Starting Over
by thequeenstolemyheart
Summary: Regina rescues Henry from Neverland, but things don't go exactly as planned. Outlaw Queen with a lot of Regina and Henry thrown in! Rating is for later chapters!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Just an FYI I have recently changed my pen name to match my tumblr name. I was formerly evilregal108 on here, for those who are following my stories and are maybe confused to get an update from my new name.**

**So this is it, my first Outlaw Queen fic. This idea popped in my head when I was thinking about what part Regina might play in getting Henry back. I mentioned my thoughts on tumblr and the next thing I knew this story was born!**

**I have written several chapters ahead and plan to update weekly. Probably every Friday (Although reviews really get me going so you may be able to convince me to update sooner some weeks!)**

**This fic will eventually go up to an M rating. Anyone who has read my previous stories knows…I can be a bit of a smut junky! It will be a little down the line though. I hope you enjoy!**

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It had been decided. They had a plan, now all they had to do was get Henry back and get the hell out.

Tinkerbell had snuck into the camp and came away with two magic beans. She'd also devised a plan that would insure Pan would never be able to travel between worlds again. Rumple had rejoined the group as had Neal.

They'd been shocked when Pan agreed that if Henry chose to leave they could take him. He'd decreed that only one person could be sent in to get Henry. As much as Regina had wanted to go, in the end she'd agreed that it should be Emma. It never failed to break her heart, but there was no doubt in Regina's mind that the blonde woman was Henry's preferred parent.

When Emma had come back empty handed, Regina felt as if she'd been punched in the gut. As much as it hurt to accept the fact that Henry would always prefer Emma to her, she'd still been able to take comfort in the fact that she would at least see him…be near him. Even if she never truly had him again, she would still be able to see his sweet face, maybe even occasionally get to hold him in her arms, something she so rarely had the opportunity to do anymore.

But they had been wrong. Henry didn't go with Emma. Emma said she'd barely recognized him. He'd gone on and on about how she'd left him and he would never forgive her. He'd accused Emma of abandoning him.

Regina had been shocked to hear the things he'd said to her. Even with all the fights she'd had with Emma, she'd never thought of the adoption that way. Emma hadn't abandoned Henry, she'd given him to someone who could care for him and be what she couldn't.

She'd given him to her.

Tinkerbell however hadn't seemed surprised at all. She'd explained that after spending time with Pan children often fell under his spell, the spell that convinced them they were unloved and unwanted. It was when her suspicions were confirmed that she revealed that in this case they had a secret weapon…and ace in the whole if you will.

Regina had felt shock take over her body when the fairy revealed just what, or more accurately _who_ that secret weapon was.

Her.

It hadn't been only her who was shocked at this statement, but the whole group. Regina thought it had been collectively decided that while she may be useful in the search for _her_ son, she certainly wouldn't be the main player in getting him back. She also had no doubt that once they succeeded, custody arrangements would go back to they way they had been before. The Charming's would have Henry, and if she wanted to see him she better be damn well happy with the scraps of time they allowed her. Of course she could see him on the street from afar, watching him play games with his "dad" or having lunch with his "mom." Regina was certainly under no illusions that things would change simply because she'd been willing to give up her life for her little boy.

She continued to walk through the jungle at a steady pace. Now the entire operation rested on her, and if she failed…she may never see her little boy again.

No pressure.

Tink had explained that most of the children who were brought here had felt unloved or unwanted so it was easy for them to fall under Pan's spell. Henry had fallen under it as well because as it was he had felt unwanted by Emma and Neal (even though when he was thinking rationally without the influence of the child demon Peter Pan he knew better.) The advantage they had though was that there was one person in his life who had always wanted him and had always loved him. She'd never left him, and she never would. She'd given him happy childhood memories in a house that until two years ago had been filled with love, fun and laughter.

This was how they were going to get him back.

Tink explained that at night the spell was weaker. This is why Emma had heard the cries of children in the night time. If Regina could get to Henry during this time and make him remember that he's never been alone, he'd never been unloved, they could break the spell over his mind and then he would willingly come with them. The fact that Henry had never been truly abandoned was not something Pan was counting on. After all, how could one understand the love Henry had grown up with when he could not love himself.

She had to succeed.

Regina stopped to lean against a tree to take a deep breath. She felt something like a panic attack coming on. Panic wasn't something she felt often and she hated any form of weakness.

When Emma noticed the brunette was no longer following them she turned back to where she found her leaning against a tree.

"Regina?" When she received no answer, but only heaving breaths she laid her hand on the woman's back. "Regina? What is it?"

Regina took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of her son's other mother. "What if it's not enough?" She asked in almost desperation. "What if I wasn't enough?"

Emma looked into the dark eyes of the other woman and saw fear, probably a look much like the one she would imagine is reflected on her own face. "Regina, it will work…it has to!" The blonde let out a sigh. "Look I know all we have done is fight over which of us Henry belongs with but Regina…" The blonde hesitated for a moment. "You were the one who was there. You were the one who showed him love and helped him with his homework, and kissed his scraped knees. You were the one he ran to when he had nightmares or was feeling afraid." The blonde took Regina by the arms forcing the other woman to look into her eyes. "And you are going to be the one to break this spell on our son. You are his mother and once again you are going to do something for him that I am unable to do." She finished.

Regina took a calming breath and looked back into Emma's eyes before nodding. "Ok." She breathed out.

Emma nodded, pleased to see she had somewhat reassured the woman who was their only hope. "Ok…now lets go get our son."

When the two of them caught back up to the group. Tinkerbell announced it was time to go their separate ways. The plan was for the group to distract Pan while Regina came in from behind to attempt to break the spell on Henry. Once broken, she was to poof them to a safe spot on the island where she would open a portal with one of the magic beans and take Henry safely back to Storybrook. Once Henry was out of Neverland they would go through with the plan to insure Pan would never be able to follow. The entire group had agreed upon this plan in the first attempt to get Henry away from Pan and his Lost Boys only that in that plan it would be Emma to take Henry away. The group had agreed that the number one priority was Henry's safety and they didn't want to take a chance of the spell backfiring while the boy was still on the island.

Now it was up to her. She had to break the spell on Henry, then convince him to come with her, leaving the others behind. Rumple claimed that he could perform the magic to keep Peter locked here forever, but that he would wait until he saw the flash of the portal signifying they had made it to safety. Once it was finished they would use the other magic bean and return to Storybrook on The Jolly Roger.

She watched as the group walked towards the camp and took one more deep breath before moving to sneak in from behind. She heard as Emma announced that she was there for her son. She ignored the taunting of Peter Pan of how they should allow the boy to make his own decisions. She searched through the faces of children that were lit by firelight, each holding a weapon that looked unnatural in the hands of a child. She searched the crowd of faces for her son and her breath caught when she finally laid eyes on him. He was holding a bow and arrow. Even when the other boys began fighting in earnest Henry had sat there, arrow at the ready but still unable to shoot. Perhaps he was conflicted…perhaps the spell wasn't strong enough for him to want to kill his family.

She moved quickly so she could come up behind him.

"Henry?" She said his name firmly as he turned around and pointed his arrow directly at her heart.

She held up her hands signifying she wasn't going to try anything.

"What are you doing?" He asked not sounding like himself, but rather some cloned brainwashed version of Henry Mills.

She smiled a genuine smile hoping to soothe him. "I just wanted to see you sweetheart. I miss you."

Henry furrowed his brow, but continued to point the arrow at her. "I'm not coming back to Storybrook! I'm staying here. I'm one of them now."

Regina nodded. "I'm not trying to get you to come back…I just wanted to see you. These last few weeks without you Henry…I've just been remembering so much from when you were a little boy and it's made me miss you even more. I miss so much about you. I miss how you used to climb into bed with me when you'd had a bad dream. The way you would cuddle up to my side and fall asleep there."

Henry blinked and lowered his bow a bit.

Regina cleared her throat. "You know what all of this camping out in the jungle has made me think of?" She asked not expecting an answer and went on. "Do you remember when you were six and you desperately wanted to go camping, but of course I knew nothing about it?" She took a deep breath and went on. "I read up on camping and how to make fires. I went out and bought us a tent and sleeping bags." She laughed a little. "I had absolutely no desire to camp, but you wanted to go so badly I just couldn't say no."

"The day we were supposed to leave that awful storm blew into town. It was one of the worst I had ever seen and we had to cancel our trip." She stepped a little closer when he lowered his bow more. "You were so disappointed and I felt terrible. You went up to your room so upset and I just wanted to see you smile again. Do you remember what I did Henry?"

Henry simply stood silent, but he'd lowered his bow completely.

Regina smiled. "I pushed back all the furniture and set that tent up in the middle of the living room." she laughed. "I will never forget your face when I called you down for dinner and you saw it. You looked at me like I was half hero and half insane. It turned out to be a fantastic night. We sang camp songs together and roasted marshmallows in the fireplace. Do you remember Henry?" The boy looked at her in almost confusion as if waking up from a dream. "I guess it isn't much compared to Neverland and the adventures with the Lost Boys, but at the time you told me that it was the best camping trip ever because…"

"Because I was with you." the boy interrupted.

Regina smiled as a tear fell down her cheek and she nodded.

Henry blinked "Mom?"

Regina laughed as more tears fell. This…this was her son. "Hi baby."

"Mom!" In the same moment Henry had dropped the bow he was launching himself at Regina. His exclamation caught the attention of Peter who realized that the spell on Henry had been broken.

"Get them!" He yelled to Felix who took off in the direction of Regina and Henry, but he arrived to late. They were gone in a puff of purple smoke.

"Now the real fun begins!" Emma stated with a catch in her throat, thrilled that her son was safely away from this demon. She'd done it! She'd broken the spell! Emma was going to have to give Regina a huge hug when they returned home! She grinned a little picturing the look of horror that would cross the other woman's face when she was hugged by the Savior of all people. She sneered at Peter as she prepared herself for the battle of a lifetime. "Prepare to meet your end Pan!"

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Regina held Henry steady as they landed in Tinkerbell's cave.

Henry glanced around slightly dizzy. "What are we doing? Shouldn't we help the others?

Regina crouched down so she could look her son in the eye. "Henry, Peter wants you here and he will do anything to keep you here. He's very powerful, but we believe we have found a way to stop him from ever leaving the island again." She ran her hands up and down Henry's arms hoping to convince him that this was the right thing to do. "We have two magic beans Henry. I have one and Emma has the other. The plan is to get you out safely because as long as you are here we are all in danger. Once you are out, Rumple will cast the spell to keep Pan here. The others will follow on The Jolly Roger."

"But we shouldn't leave them! I could help! They might need your magic!" Henry protested.

"Rumple is very powerful Henry and so is Emma. We have to go, because they have refused to cast the spell until they see the flash of the portal, they need to know that you are safely out of Neverland. The longer you and I stay here the more danger they are in." She took his face in her hands. "We have to go baby, they will be right behind us."

Henry looked at Regina with pleading eyes. "Do you promise they will be ok?"

Regina took a deep breath, one thing she could never do again was to lie to her little boy. "I can't make that promise Henry, because I don't know what will happen…but I do know that I believe in them. I believe in their ability to fight Pan and win." She wiped a tear from his cheek "I think you believe in them too. The only thing we all agree on is that we want you to be safe." She leaned up and kissed his forehead. "We have to go Henry, so they will cast the spell. It is the best way to keep them safe right now."

Henry looked into the eyes of his mother and saw honesty. He saw her love for him and believed with her that Emma and the others would make it back. He nodded his head slowly. "Ok."

Regina smiled a little. "Ok. Here's the thing about portals Henry, normally it's best to have something that can guide you through…something to direct where you are going. That's the best way because it leaves no room for error, but in our case we don't have that so I'm going to need you to concentrate on home. Think about your room or Granny's, whatever you think about when you think about home. Do you think you can do that?"

Henry nodded slowly. "I think so."

Regina smiled and leaned forward to place a kiss to Henry's head. "That's my boy." She turned and threw the bean and watched as the swirling vortex stood ready to carry them away. "Remember Henry, think about home and do not let go of me." She said loudly.

Henry nodded and wrapped his arms around the waist of his mother. He closed his eyes and thought about his room, he thought about is story book. "I'm ready!" He shouted to her.

Regina turned them both towards the portal and jumped in, holding on to her son for dear life, concentrating on her house…the home she shared with her little boy and hopefully would one day share again. It was the last thought in her mind as the darkness of the portal swallowed them.

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**A/N I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. This will not only be Outlaw Queen, but also Some Henry/Regina healing as well. Please review and tell me what you thought!**

**Feel free to look me up on tumblr! My name there is thequeenstolemyheart! I would love to chat with you about the show!**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hi guys! So wow I wasn't expecting such an overwhelming response to this story! I told you reviews could bribe me into posting early! If this keeps up I may just end up posting twice a week! Like I said I have done quite a few chapters on this one! **

**I hope you all enjoy!**

Henry landed with a grunt as the breath was knocked out of him, he hadn't hit the ground, but instead had landed on his mom. He pushed himself up so he could look at her, but felt panic rise up when he saw that she was unconscious.

"Mom?" Henry shook her a little and that was when he noticed the wound on the side of her head. "Mom?! Can you hear me?!" He looked around trying to figure out where in Storybrook they had landed. The only thing he could see was trees all around him.

He turned back around to look at Regina. "Mom, please wake up…I can't leave you alone to go get help." He glanced around again. "I'm not even sure where we are."

He looked up as he heard foot steps running towards him.

"I saw the flash over here." He heard a woman say.

Henry looked with wide eyes as two figures emerged through the trees. It was a man and woman, both carrying torches and both dressed very odd for Storybrook.

"Who are you?" He asked staring up at both of them, still leaning protectively over his unconscious mother.

"Well I believe we could ask you the same question." The man said. "After all it is you who are the stranger here."

Henry swallowed. "My name is Henry." He looked around. "Do you mind telling me where we are?"

"Henry…wait…Emma and Neal's Henry?" The woman spoke.

Henry nodded. "You know Emma and Neal?" He wanted to know.

The woman nodded and finally a smile crossed her face. "I'm Mulan, and you Henry are in the Enchanted Forest."

Henry looked at the man. "And I'm Robin." the man told him.

He wasn't sure about this Robin character, but Emma had told him about Mulan and how she and Aurora had helped her. He looked back down at his mom. "Could you guys help me?" He touched his mother's face gently. "I guess she got knocked out when we hit the ground."

Mulan moved forward to see about helping the woman on the ground, but backed away when she saw her face. Robin looked at her in confusion. "That's the Queen." Mulan told him. "That's the woman who cursed this land." She turned to Robin. "We need to get her locked up before she wakes, we need to find a way to keep everyone safe from her magic."

"No!" Henry shouted at both of them. "No, I'm not going to let you lock her up. She's my mom and she's good now and she's hurt. You have to help her!"

The two of them looked at the boy for a moment before Robin asked, "I thought that Neal and Emma were your parents?"

Henry shook his head. "No…I mean yes, they are my birth parents, but my mom is the one who raised me. She's the one I had around my whole life. I met Emma later."

Mulan looked back to Robin unsurely "Emma did say at one point that she shared Henry with Regina."

Henry nodded. "Please. She's really trying to be better. She is the one who saved Emma and Snow when they came back through the portal. She was gonna give up her life to save everyone in Storybrook. Then she saved me from the spell that Peter Pan put me under. She really is different. Please help her." The boy pleaded. "If you had made a lot of mistakes, wouldn't you want to be given a second chance?"

Robin and Mulan once again looked at each other before Robin spoke. "I guess I'm proof that a child really can change a person." Mulan nodded slowly as Robin stepped forward and gestured at the unconscious woman. "May I?"

Henry nodded and moved back as he watched Robin examine his mother's head. "Is she going to be ok?" He asked

Robin nodded. "It's a pretty nasty bump, but I believe she'll be alright." He glanced back to Mulan. "We should get her inside."

Mulan nodded and moved to Regina's head as Robin picked the woman up. Mulan adjusted her head so that it laid against Robin's chest careful not to touch the bleeding wound. She then turned to Henry and laid a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry, we will be able to do more for her at the castle."

Henry nodded and let out a relieved sigh that they were helping him. He could only hope that his mom would be ok.

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Henry sat on the bed next to his mother stroking her hand gently. This was all his fault. He hadn't meant to think of the Enchanted Forest, but after he thought of his story book the thought of the place his family was from just invaded his mind. Now they were stuck here with people he couldn't be sure he could trust and his mom had been hurt.

Robin had left the room to go check on someone named Roland and Mulan currently sat in the chair in the far corner.

Henry sighed and glanced back down at his mom's face. He examined the mark that was starting to look ugly and purple and winced. He figured when she did wake up she would have a pretty bad headache.

He glanced around the room of the castle that had apparently once had been Rumple's home. He'd never seen anything quite so big and had to admit he was impressed. He wondered if everything in the Enchanted Forest had been as grand as this.

He looked back down as he heard the moan come from his mother.

"Mom?" He said squeezing her hand a bit tighter.

Regina cracked an eye open, but winced and quickly shut it again.

"Mom are you ok?" She heard her son ask again.

Regina once again attempted to open her eyes, this time succeeding. She squinted up at her son's face. "Henry? What happened?" She put her arm around her son as he all but threw himself on top of her wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Mom! I was so worried! I was afraid you may never wake up!"

She glanced around the room for the first time and let out a heavy sigh as she realized where they were, there were no rooms like this one in Storybrook. "The Enchanted Forest." she said it on a groan once again finding herself in the last place she wanted to be.

Henry looked up from where he was resting his head on her chest. "I'm sorry mom…it just kinda popped in there." he said referring to his mind jumping to the Enchanted Forest.

Regina looked down at his sweet face that was looking back up at her with guilt. She rubbed his back lightly as she placed a kiss to his forehead. "It's ok sweetheart. The important thing is that you are safe. That's all that matters to me Henry." She once again glanced at where she was. "How did I get into this bed?" She wanted to know.

"Robin carried you." Regina heard the answer from across the room, realizing for the first time that they were not alone.

She squinted at the woman walking towards her. "And who the hell is Robin?"

"Robin _Hood_ mom!" Henry announced with some excitement.

Regina stared at the woman for another moment. "And you are?"

"Mulan." The woman answered.

Regina refrained from rolling her eyes. "Of course you are." She'd truly had her fill of fairy tale characters. At least with this particular woman she wasn't some pampered princess that just sat around waiting for a prince to come and rescue her, but rather a woman and a warrior who took matters into her own hands and fought for herself. If she had to be stuck with someone, better it was a woman like Mulan.

She watched as the woman eyed her warily. "You know who I am?" It was more a statement then a question.

Mulan nodded. "You are Queen Regina, the woman who cursed this land."

Regina continued to study her, "I'm surprised I didn't wake up locked in a cell."

The other woman eyed her carefully. "You almost did, but your son convinced us to help you. He can be quite persuasive."

Regina looked back down to her son who was still cuddled against her side, thankful to have her awake and with him. "He can indeed." She leaned up to place another kiss to his head as he smiled up at her.

Regina shifted Henry and attempted to sit up but winced at the shooting pain through her head and nearly passed out from the dizziness that tried to pull her back into unconsciousness.

Mulan moved to her side and helped to ease the woman back down to the bed. "You need to lay down. You're not ready to be up and moving around just yet."

Regina moaned. "I need to figure out a way to communicate with the others. I need to make sure that the plan worked and Pan can no longer get to my son."

"Mom, you gotta lay down." Henry said from her side. He cuddled back beside her causing Regina to once again bring her arm around him.

Regina put her hand to her head and released magic onto the wound. It didn't clear up completely, but looked to improve. She smiled down at Henry "See…good as new!" She shifted to get up again, but this time was struck with a wave of dizziness from using the rest of her energy on magic.

Mulan laid a hand on the woman's arm. "I may be able to help with that…contacting them, but we can't do anything tonight. I will work on it first thing in the morning. For now, you need to lay back and get some rest. You won't be any good to anyone if you are drained of all your energy."

Regina hesitated, nothing was more important then Henry's safety and she needed to know that Pan was no longer a threat. Not to mention if the group arrived back in Storybrook only to find that she and Henry hadn't returned she knew they would be worried. She didn't so much care about Snow or Charming, but she and Emma had forged somewhat of a bond in the search for their son. If the situation were reversed she would be furious if the woman didn't do everything to contact her and let her know Henry was ok. The fact that she was even thinking this way made her inwardly cringe.

Was she going soft?

"Mom," Henry's voice broke her from her thoughts. "It will be ok. We can let them know tomorrow that we ended up here, but are ok. Then we can start working on a way to get back home."

Regina nodded as her eyes became more and more heavy.

Mulan walked to the other side of the room to extinguish the torch that burned there. "We will talk over our options at breakfast." She told Regina who was beginning to drift of with her son cuddled beside her. "Get some rest." The woman said before exiting the room finally convinced that this woman did not plan to bring those she loved any harm.

Regina vaguely heard the door shut and pulled her son closer to her. As her eyes closed she began to dream. She dreamed of a time before she had turned into the Evil Queen, a time when there was still innocence in her heart. She dreamed of a crowded tavern and a man…A man with a lion tattoo. A man who she had been told was her true love. A man she'd never had the courage to go in to meet.

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"How is she?" Robin asked when he saw Mulan in the hallway.

"Resting, she used magic to heal the wound on her head, but drained all her energy in the process. She's worried about Pan getting to her son." She told him.

"Pan?" Robin asked. "Does she think he could come here again? Could Roland be in danger?"

Mulan shook her head. "I don't know. She said the others had a plan to stop Pan from getting Henry, but she kept saying she need to find a way to communicate with them to make sure it worked. She seemed pretty afraid that Henry was still in danger."

Robin glanced towards the door. "Do you think she's still awake? I need to know if there is a possibility that thing could come back and try to take Roland."

"She was drifting off to sleep when I left, but you could try." Mulan answered.

Robin nodded slightly and knocked lightly on the bedroom door. When no one answered he cracked it open and peeked in. He saw mother and son laying on the bed together. The latter curled up in to the woman. Regina had her arms wrapped around Henry and looked to be at peace.

"Regina?" He asked gently hoping to get an answer, but at the same time not really wanting to wake the peacefully sleeping woman. When she didn't so much as stir he changed his mind on getting answers from her tonight.

He studied her sleeping face for a moment. Her features seemed to glow in the moonlight filtering into the room. The wound to her head looked better then it had before, but he could still make out the dark bruise against her skin. He'd heard stories of the Queen and had often heard of her striking beauty. In the stories he'd heard it was more of a bold beauty, a sexiness that most men would never be able to say no too, but now in this moment her features were softened. She was still strikingly beautiful, but not in the harsh way that had always been described to him. No right now she looked almost angelic in the moonlight.

He shook himself from his rambling thoughts. He would get answers from them in the morning, but for now he would let them sleep. He closed the door gently and walked towards his son's room. Until he knew it was safe Roland would be staying with him. He was willing to take no chances when it came to his little boy.

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**A/N You called it Miss Poisonous!**

**Hope you all enjoyed! Please review and let me know what you thought!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Once again your awesome comments and reviews have urged me to post early! Plus I'm just really excited about this story! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

**Thanks to all who followed and reviewed! You guys are awesome!**

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Regina awoke with a start. She'd been dreaming. She'd dreamed that the awful shadow had come back for her son. She'd dreamed she wasn't able to save him. She let out a breath of relief to find him still curled against her side.

Henry moved to look up at is mother having been awoken by her sharp intake of breath.

"Mom?" He asked.

Regina looked at her son and smoothed back his hair. "It's ok sweetheart, I was just dreaming."

Henry nodded in understanding before sitting up. "Are you feeling better today?"

Regina nodded her head. She did have a slight head ache, but her vision was better and she no longer felt dizzy when she tried to move. "I am, quite a bit actually."

She grinned when she heard the loud growl of Henry's stomach. Henry looked at her sheepishly. "I'm pretty hungry."

Regina laughed out loud at his statement. "So I hear." She smiled down at him. "I supposed it is time for breakfast." She moved her feet over the edge of the bed preparing herself to stand up. She paused when she felt Henry's arm on her shoulder.

"Mom?" Henry moved to the side of the bed to sit beside her. The look on his face was troubled.

"What is it sweetheart?"

"I just…I've been thinking about things…well about you actually…and me."

Regina waited patiently while her son tried to put his thoughts into words.

"It's just, when I saw you in Neverland and you talked about when I was a kid, it made me think." Henry paused for a moment. "It made me remember how great things were before I found out about the curse." He took a shaky breath and continued. "When I found out about everything I got really angry with you and I thought maybe you only adopted me because of who I was…the son of the savior. I was devastated because you were my whole world and I loved you so much and I thought it had all been a lie."

Regina looked at her son in shock. Had he truly thought her love for him had been a lie? She brushed a hand against his cheek. "Henry, my love for you was never I lie." She pulled him closer to her side. "I adopted you because I wanted you so desperately and you were and are my entire world. I would do anything for you."

Henry nodded as tears fell down his face. "I know…now I know how stupid it was for me to think that, now that I look back on us and our relationship…how much you loved me. I don't know how I ever doubted it." He looked up into her face with tear filled eyes. "Mom I'm really sorry for the way I've treated you. I've said some really bad things and I know I've hurt you. Can you ever for give me?"

Regina took his face in her hands and leaned in to place a kiss on his head. "Sweetheart I already have, and I need you to know that none of this was your fault. I should have been honest with you Henry. I should have told you the truth and I'm so sorry that you questioned who you are and how much I love you….I never want you to question that again ok. No matter what happens, know that I love you so much and that I always will."

Henry nodded and once again wrapped his arms around Regina's waist. The after affects from Neverland had left him feeling sentimental. He'd missed his mom in the time he'd been away from her and not just while he was in Neverland, but before that in Storybrook, when he'd gone to live with his Grandfather, even before that when he still lived in his mother's home, but had pulled away from her. One thing he knew for sure was that he wanted her back.

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It was some time later that the two of them made their way down to breakfast, both having been content to hold each other for a while. When they walked into the dinning room of the palace that used to belong to Rumple, Regina found herself looking at three people. One was the woman she'd met the night before, one a broad shouldered gentleman who was talking with a very small child. She hadn't expected to see children here.

"Regina." The woman greeted. "Henry" She nodded towards Henry. " I was just getting ready to come check on you."

"Hi Mulan" Henry greeted with some enthusiasm. "Hey Robin, this is my Mom…you didn't really get to meet her last night."

"Other then carrying her to safety of course." The man grinned slightly and was amused when he saw the woman redden a bit.

Regina cleared her throat. "I appreciate you helping me and taking us in."

Robin shrugged. "It's not a problem. If my son and I were stranded somewhere and I was unconscious and he were alone I would hope someone would do the same for us." He stated. "Speaking of sons…this" He gestured to the cute little boy sitting beside him. "Is my son Roland, Roland this is Henry and Regina, Mulan and I found them in the woods last night."

"Hi Roland" Henry greeted.

Regina's face softened into a smile as she looked at the little boy. "Hello Roland."

The young boy studied the two of them for a moment. "What happened to your head?' He asked. Referring to the faint bruise that you could still see on her skin.

Regina smiled and moved to sit on the other side of the boy. "I hit it when Henry and I fell through the portal."

"Oh." The boy reached up his hand and lightly touched her head. "Does it hurt?"

Regina once again smiled at him and shook her head. "Not really, it's feeling much better now."

"What's a portal?" the boy asked.

"It's something that can take you to another world." Regina answered.

"Oh." the boy once again said.

"How old are you Roland?" Henry asked as he walked up beside his mother.

"I'm this many." The boy held up four fingers. "Daddy says I'm growing up really fast and that soon I will be strong like him and can ride horses by myself and shoot bows."

Robin grinned and Regina could see the pride that radiated off the man when he looked at his son. It was that more then the fact he had helped her and Henry that made her decide she liked him.

Regina smiled at the little boy. "I wasn't much older then you when I got my first pony."

"Really?" The boy asked with wide eyes.

"Mmhmm." Regina nodded her head. "It took a lot of lessons from my father before I was able to ride her by myself though. It takes patience and determination but you will get there." She tapped him lightly on the nose.

"Are you a good rider?" The little boy wanted to know.

Regina's smile faded a bit and a look of sadness came into her eyes. "I was once." she answered. "I haven't rode in quite a while."

"Maybe you should start again." The boy stated.

She smiled once again at him. "Maybe."

Robin had watched the conversation and the brunette's reactions closely. He once again was seeing the gentleness that he hadn't expected to come from one given the name of The Evil Queen. Perhaps her son was right, perhaps this woman had changed and was really trying her best to be different. As he had told Mulan the night before, he could understand better then anyone how loving a child could change a person.

If he'd thought she was beautiful the night before while she was sleeping, it had been nothing compared to her beauty while awake. Her dark eyes were perhaps the most expressive he'd ever seen. He'd heard the saying that a person's eyes were the window to the soul, but in the case of this woman it was entirely true. Her eyes alone seemed to give away what she was feeling.

He moved from the table and brought back two scones for each of his guests. He smiled as he watched the boy dive in to his as if he were starving. When they'd finished breakfast he walked around and placed a hand on Regina's shoulder. "Might I have a word?"

Regina cleared her throat. "Of course." she answered and stood. She turned to her son. "I will be right back sweetheart."

"Ok, Mom." the boy dismissed her. He was enjoying talking to the young child who had apparently decided that he was a hero.

Regina and Robin stepped into the hallway. She looked at the man for a moment before speaking. "Thank you for everything you've done for us." She paused for a moment before she continued. "Most people wouldn't have helped…well…someone like me."

Robin looked into her eyes. She was much smaller then he'd imagined the Queen to be, actually quite petite, standing several inches shorter then him, and at this moment looked like she couldn't hurt a fly. He also knew that looks could be deceiving, but the truth was that he honestly didn't believe that this woman wanted to hurt anyone. To him she seemed to just be a mother that wanted to take care of her son.

"It wasn't a problem." He answered. "Mulan was actually the one who tended to your head." He lifted his hand to lightly touch the faint bruise. "It's looking much better today." She shiftedawkwardly at his touch so he dropped his hand back to his side and decided to lighten the moment. "All I did was carry you to the house." He grinned. "And you're quite light so my work was minimal."

Regina returned his smile. "Still, I appreciate it."

Now that was a beautiful sight indeed, this woman's smile could light up a room. "You're welcome." He shifted his weight. "Mulan said that you mentioned Peter Pan and that you were worried about your son's safety."

Regina nodded. "We had a plan to stop him from being able to cross worlds, but we decided we had to get Henry out first. We were supposed to end up in Storybrook, but at the last minute Henry thought of this place…I have no way to get in touch with the others to find out if the plan actually worked. Until I know for sure I can't be sure that my little boy is safe."

Robin frowned. "I'm afraid that if the plan didn't work then my son could be in danger as well. When Neal was here he talked me into letting my son call for the shadow so he could hitch a ride back to Neverland." Robin took a breath "If I'd had any idea of the monster that would come after him I never would have allowed it. I've been worried since then that it may come back for him."

Regina nodded understanding completely and quite frankly a little pissed off that Neal would manipulate this man into using his son. Surely he could have found another way. Robin had likely gone along having no idea of the demon he was dealing with, but Neal did know…and he knowingly put this family into harms way. "I'm sorry he did that." She told Robin. "He shouldn't have. No child should have to deal with nightmares of that monstrous thing coming after them." Regina let out a breath. "The only way we can know for sure if our children are safe is to get in touch with the others, Mulan mentioned she may know a way to do that."

Robin nodded, "I think I know what she's thinking."

They reentered the dinning room to find Henry telling the Story of how the town of Storybrook nearly blew up, but how his Mom and had been willing to give up her life so he wouldn't be alone. Roland listened with wide eyes as Henry then told how they decided to try and save his Mom instead, but then the plan went wrong, but after that Emma stepped up and both of his Mom's stopped it together.

Robin grinned at Regina and leaned in slightly "Quite the hero aren't we?"

Regina smirked. "I'm anything but a hero." she told him.

XXXXXXXX

When Roland had made the suggestion that Regina get back into riding, she certainly didn't think she would be doing so that day, but here she was on her way to the castle of Phillip and Aurora on horseback.

She'd enjoyed riding her whole life, but after killing Rocinante to enact the curse she hadn't ridden again. The memories were just to painful. Mulan lead the group, Robin was riding beside her with Roland in front of him and Henry rode on the horse with her. Regina had forgotten just how cold it could get in the Enchanted Forest. Robin had offered her one of his jacket's before leaving and she was glad she'd accepted. Henry had also borrowed a coat from Robin. Regina had been unable to stop her laughter when he slid into the coat and it swallowed him whole.

"Mom, can't we go faster?" Henry whined from behind her and broke her out of her thoughts.

Regina smiled a little at her son's impatient nature. "We're nearly there Henry, just a little longer."

"Your mother is a bit rusty in the saddle, she's probably afraid to go any faster." Robin spoke up from beside them.

Regina turned to look at the man offended, but then saw the teasing grin on his face. "Afraid?" She gave a throaty laugh that made Robin's heart pick up it's pace a bit.

"Are you not then?" He continued to smirk at her, very much liking the slight grin on her face and the light banter. "We could make it interesting."

Instead of answering Regina simply raised an eyebrow.

"A race, first one to the castle is the winner."

"And what does the winner get?" Regina wanted to know even as Henry let out a loud whoop and encouraged her to take the challenge.

Robin shrugged "The satisfaction of being the winner."

Regina laughed her throaty laugh again "Are you afraid to wager anything real?" she teased. "Worried I might win?"

Her teasing sent his heart on a wild heart beat once again. What in the hell was wrong with him he wondered to himself. "Winner can choose later what it is they want…with in reason of course."

Regina smirked having fun teasing him. "Within reason?"

Robin laughed. "Well I won't be handing my kid over or anything, but I don't know…something of your choice from the castle."

Regina grinned. "None of that actually belongs to you." She reminded him.

"Hey when the previous owner gets whisked away to another land his stuff is up for grabs." He defended.

Regina nodded. "Ok sounds fair." She adjusted herself slightly before yelling. "Henry, hold on!"

Before Robin even knew what was happening she was off. He immediately scrambled to catch up with her. "That's not fair" he said from behind her. "You cheated!"

Regina only laughed back at him. "Excuses!" she yelled behind her. She was actually enjoying herself. It had been a long time since she flew through the forest on horseback and as rusty as she felt she had to admit it felt good. Henry was enjoying himself from behind her laughing and telling her faster as they approached the castle. Just as she began thinking that she was going to beat Robin he and Roland rode up beside her.

"Sorry your majesty, but I think I'm going to take this race!" He laughed as he picked up his pace and beat her to the castle by a couple lengths.

Regina was still laughing even though she'd just been beaten. "It wasn't a fair race…my kid's heavier then yours." She stated.

"Ha!" Robin exclaimed as he slid off his horse and took his laughing son into his arms! "I probably have at least eighty pounds on you." He stated. "Do you really want to get in to who has the weight advantage?" He set his son on the ground and turned to help Henry off Regina's horse.

"My horse is smaller." Regina pouted.

Henry was still laughing when Robin helped him down and Regina had the fleeting thought that she and her son hadn't had this much fun together in ages. She looked down at the man who after helping her son to the ground had turned back to hold his arms up for her. Normally she would scoff at such a gesture, being perfectly capable of getting herself off her horse, but when she looked down into his kind and laughing eyes she found herself reaching to rest her hands on his shoulders. He placed his hands on her waist and lowered her easily to the ground. Regina could feel her heart pick up as he held his hands in place for a moment and looked down into her face.

Robin felt something like fire shoot into his gut at the feel of standing this close to her. He wasn't sure what it was about this woman that had him reacting this way, but he did know that it had been a very long time since he felt anything even close to this. He found himself wanting to pull her to him, he wanted to wrap his arms around her and promise to protect her forever…He'd just met her for God's sake! What in the hell was wrong with him.

Regina cleared her throat and took a step back. She didn't know why but her nerves had seemed to kick into overdrive. She was relieved when Mulan rode up behind them.

"Who won?" She wanted to know.

"I did." Robin grinned and turned to once again pick up his little boy this time mostly to distract himself from the need he felt to just look at Regina.

"He cheats." Mulan stated as she slid easily off her horse.

Regina smirked. "Yes I have already figured that out!"

Robin pointed at Mulan "You're just mad because you have yet to beat me as well!"

Mulan rolled her eyes and grinned back at Regina. "He cheats." She began to walk towards the castle doors and looked down at Henry who fell into step beside her. "I do believe that Aurora will be able to help. She has been practicing controlling the dream world every time she sleeps and she's gotten quite good. She's been able to communicate with people from many different worlds. Hopefully she can get us some answers as to whether or not Pan is still a threat."

They followed her into the castle hoping that Aurora would have the answers they were looking for.

XXXXXXXX

**A/N I hope you all enjoyed. If you did please tell me and leave a review...or even if you didn't leave a review (just be constructive please)**

**The next chapter is pretty long and I'm super excited for you all to read it. As you all have found out reviews motivate me! ;) Yes I am shamelessly bribing you for reviews! I live for them...they are my crack!**

**Come over and say hi on tumblr! I love talking with other fans about the show! (Especially Evil Regals!) I'm thequeenstolemyheart on there too!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N I am so amazed by the response this story has received! I wasn't going to post again until Friday, but you all have been so great that I had to give you another chapter!**

**Thanks to all who read, followed and reviewed!**

XXXXXXXX

Regina watched as Aurora slept and could only hope the woman would be able to get in touch with Snow or David. Henry had wanted to go into the netherworld as well, but Regina refused. She still wasn't happy about the fact that her son sometimes went there in his sleep. She sure the hell wasn't going to allow him to do it on purpose. Especially when he was not nearly as practiced as Aurora at controlling himself while in there.

She had given Aurora the message. She was to tell them that she and Henry were safe and also that Emma needed to begin to look for ways from their side to bring them back and Regina would look here. She knew that portals were hard to come by, but Regina suspected that because there was someone on each side that had powerful magic that maybe they would somehow be able to do something from each end to create a way home.

She looked around the room and saw her son and Roland chatting with each other. Henry was probably reliving another one of his adventures for the young boy to hear. She smiled as she watched Roland hang on every word.

She glanced to Robin who was talking quietly with Phillip. She still couldn't explain what it was that had happened between the two of them when he'd helped her from the horse. All she could say was that jump in her stomach was something she hadn't felt in a very long time. She studied him while he was unaware of her watching. He was an attractive man. He had beautiful blue eyes and when he looked at her she couldn't help but feel as if she could drown in them. He had very broad and strong shoulders. She imagined that he would be quite cut beneath his shirt.

She shook herself out of the thought. Now was most certainly not the time to be wondering what was beneath the shirt of anyone. Her number one priority now was her son. She laughed a little at herself, evidently it had been way to long since she'd been with anyone if she was getting this distracted.

She shifted her focus to Mulan who was standing by Aurora, watching over her as she slept. She narrowed her eyes a bit as she watched the woman's face. She'd certainly seen that look before. That was the look of love, but also the devastation of not having that love returned. Despite having just met the woman Regina instantly felt for her. There was nothing worse then loving someone with all of your being and them not loving you back. She'd certainly been there. Her mother hadn't truly loved her until the day her heart had been replaced in her chest and then had only lived a few seconds afterward. It hadn't mattered how much she'd loved her as a child…how much she'd done right, the love she'd had for her mother had never been returned.

Regina imagined that being "in love" with someone who didn't feel the same would be even worse. She started to walk towards Mulan when Aurora awoke from her sleep.

Mulan started to reach for her when she woke but pulled her hand back when Phillip came racing back over.

"Did you see them?" Henry asked running over to them.

Aurora nodded. "Both Snow and David decided to go into the netherworld hoping to reach you." She told him then turned to Regina. "I gave them your message about Emma trying to find information about the two of you creating a portal from each side. They said they would see what they could find out and meet me back in the netherworld in two days." Aurora smiled "And the best part is…they succeeded! Pan is now unable to leave the island. They didn't give me a lot of details, but they said it was done!"

Regina let out the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding and took Henry into her arms. He was safe…no matter what else happened Pan would not be able to get to him again. She smiled at Aurora. "Thank you so much!"

Aurora couldn't help but return the smile. Whatever this woman's past may be, the fact that she loved her son with all her heart was completely obvious.

Robin watched she the smile spread across Regina's face. What was it about this woman that caused his heart to race every time she smiled? Why did he find himself simply wanting to look at her? Why did heat shoot into his gut when he was close to her? Sure it had been a long time since he had even thought about a woman, but it wasn't as if he hadn't seen women since his wife died. He'd seen plenty, but none had given him the feelings that this gorgeous brunette was currently stirring in him.

He continued to watch as she smiled down at her son. The love she felt for him was clear on her face. He couldn't help wondering what it would feel like to be on the receiving end of such love. She leaned in and placed a kiss to her son's head then knelt down to say something to Roland. Robin sat mesmerized…She was beautiful…how was she even real?

"Robin?"

He snapped out of his thoughts to see Mulan standing next to him with a knowing smirk on her face. "What?"

"I said we should probably be heading back. It's getting late and we are half a days ride away from the castle." she told him.

"Oh, you could stay the night here." Aurora who had overheard interjected. "It would be nice to have children around." She laid her hand on her stomach. "For practice." She smiled.

Robin looked at Mulan who gave the other woman an uncomfortable smile. He and Mulan had spent a lot of time together, and although the woman had never come out and said it, he knew that she was in love with Aurora. He also knew how painful it was for her to be around the princess and her prince. He shook his head, wanting to make things easier for his friend. "We probably should be getting back." He stated.

Mulan looked at him with relief.

Regina had began to approach the group, but instead found herself watching the exchange. Apparently Robin was not only a good father but also a good friend. Even though it would have been more comfortable to stay the night here in the warmth of the castle he was choosing to spare his friend the pain of seeing her love with someone else. In her experience men were rarely that thoughtful.

It also surprised her that Robin knew the truth and still accepted her. Things in the Enchanted Forest were quite different then they were at home, and people who were attracted to the same sex were rarely accepted.

This place was archaic in it's belief systems. Here women were thought to be little else then a bargaining chip, offered as a wife to a family who had something to offer, then forced to live with her husband no matter how awful she was treated. Women here did not have options. Her and Henry's world may not be perfect, but it was certainly more progressive then this place.

That is why Robin's treatment of his friend Mulan was all the more surprising. Not that he should be given a medal for being a decent human being or anything, but he was raised here in this land under these horrid belief systems and yet he didn't seem to buy into them. He didn't talk down to Mulan and it was obvious he respected her opinion. The fact that he'd offered her a place among his men proved this even more. Not only was she a woman who took on what was considered a "man's role" but he also took her in knowing that she was attracted to women. Most people in the Enchanted Forest would shun her if they knew.

What was it that was so different about Robin?

She looked down when Robin looked up at her. He grinned as he caught her watching him. Maybe he wasn't the only one who was having trouble keeping himself focused. He smiled as he walked towards her. "Are you ok with heading back now?"

She nodded her head and had to clear her throat to speak. "Of course." He smiled at her once again before she felt a tug on her hand. She looked down to find Roland standing beside her.

"Can I ride with you this time Regina?" He asked a little shyly.

She smiled down at him. "I don't see why not…" She looked back at Robin. "As long as it's ok with your father."

Robin grinned at his son before scooping him up into his arms and tickling his side. "So this is how it's gonna be then?" He asked as the boy squealed with laughter. "You're gonna abandon me for a beautiful woman?" Regina blushed a bit at his words, then turned an even darker shade of red when the man looked back into her eyes and said "Not that I can blame you."

The boy straightened in his fathers arms "I like Regina dad…she's nice and she knows how to ride and she looks really pretty when she smiles."

"Indeed she does." Robin smiled at her.

"You're going to have to excuse them Regina." Mulan spoke up from beside her. "Obviously they don't get out much and rarely have the opportunity to see a beautiful woman. I do my best to keep them civilized…but it's a full time job." She smirked as Robin turned a little red himself.

"I think you're pretty too Mulan!" The four year old boy spoke up.

Mulan grinned at him before plucking him out of his father's arms. "And you are the most handsome young man in all the lands!" Mulan told him placing a kiss to the side of his head.

Robin turned to look at Henry. "What do you say Henry? Are you up for riding with the winner of this morning's race?"

Henry's eyes widened. "Sure!" He said with some excitement.

"Perhaps you'd be up for a rematch?" Robin asked with a teasing grin. "After all you now have the lighter child with you."

Regina returned his smile as she took Roland into her arms. "I was just about to ask you the same thing."

XXXXXXXX

"You do cheat." Regina stated flatly as they walked back into the castle. She was still holding Roland in her arms and wore a scowl on her face.

"I told you." Mulan stated as she walked by them.

"No way!" Henry took up for Robin. "We won that one fair and square Mom!"

"No." Regina stated simply. "No one has ever been able to beat me."

"Yeah Dad cheats!" Roland spoke up causing Regina and Mulan to both laugh. He smiled a little shyly and wrapped an arm around Regina's neck causing her to cuddle him closer.

"Fine take their side" Robin ruffled the little boy's hair then turned his attention to Regina. "Perhaps you are just out of practice." He teased "I could give you some refresher lessons if you need them."

Regina blinked offended. " I certainly will not be needing lessons from you."

Robin grinned. "Just thought I would offer."

Regina sat Roland down when he wiggled. "Dad can we introduce Henry to Joe?"

"Joe?" Regina and Henry both asked at the same time.

Robin smiled. "His goat."

Regina raised her eyebrow. "He has a goat?"

Robin nodded his head. "We found him about a year ago. At the time he was just a baby. Roland fell in love with him and begged to bring him home. He named him Joe."

Henry smiled down at the little boy. "I would love to meet your goat Roland!"

"Ok!" The little boy said with enthusiasm thrilled that he may have something that would impress his newest hero. He took Henry by the hand all but dragging him out the door. "Let's go!"

Robin shot one more grin to Regina. "It appears I'm off to spend time with a goat."

Regina smiled fully. "Have fun with that."

She turned to find Mulan standing by the fire attempting to warm up. She walked up beside the woman and held her hands up to the fire. "How long has it been since you've been with Robin and Roland?"

Mulan shrugged. "About a month I guess."

"The three of you seem close…for it being so short a time." Regina commented.

Mulan nodded her head. "I suppose when you find your family…It just fits." she paused for a moment. "Robin and I aren't together…if that's what your thinking."

Regina nodded. "No I wasn't thinking that." she paused wondering how far she should take the conversation, but then she was never one for subtlety. "How could you be with him when your heart belongs to Aurora?"

Mulan's eyes widened and she turned to look at Regina with her mouth slightly open. "How did you…" She stopped herself. "Of course I care about Aurora…she's my friend but I don't…I…We're friends." She finished awkwardly.

Regina smiled a little. "I know love when I see it Mulan." She laid a gentle hand on the girls arm. "You don't have to worry. You're secret is safe with me."

Mulan eyed her a bit warily. "Why?"

Regina shrugged. "Because I know what it's like to be shunned for something that you have no control over."

When Mulan only lifted an eyebrow in doubt at that statement Regina explained. "My mother…growing up no one ever wanted to be around me because of who my mother was. Everyone was afraid to be near me. I wasn't worth being friends with and I certainly wasn't worth saving. I didn't have one friend until Daniel…and she killed him." Regina let out a breath "Come to think of it I still don't have any friends, but I suppose that is more my doing."

Mulan looked back at the fire feeling strangely relieved that someone knew her secret. "I knew I was different from the other girls at a young age." She said quietly. "While the other girls were playing with dolls and dreaming of their weddings, I wanted to learn how to use a sword and ride a horse." She smiled. "I think my parents thought it was a phase and eventually I would settle down and want what all the other girls wanted…a husband and a family." She smiled. "It never really happened…not that I don't want a family, I just…" she hesitated.

"Don't want a husband." Regina finished with a grin.

Mulan laughed. "No…no I don't want a husband. I was a teenager before it really occurred to me that I wasn't attracted to men. Up until that point I was so focused on learning to fight that I never really thought about it one way or another, but once I realized…" She let out a breath. "There was this girl, that had always accepted me, she'd always been my friend even though others didn't understand me. I starting thinking that maybe she was like me. I began to fall for her and when I finally worked up the nerve to tell her…well, lets just say she didn't feel the same." She shook her head. "That was when I joined the army. I just needed to get away from there."

Regina nodded. "Has there been anyone else?"

Mulan shook her head. "There have been a few women along the way…a warm body, meaningless sex, but never love…not until now."

Regina nodded. She knew about that as well. Trying to heal your loneliness by having a warm body in your bed. It inevitably ended up making you feel more alone then you were to start with. "Mulan, I know what things are like here in the Enchanted Forest, how women are viewed here." She paused for a moment. "I just want to let you know that you would be welcome to come back to Storybrook with us."

Mulan shook her head. "It's the same people Regina…just in a different place."

Regina once again shook her head. "It is and it isn't. It's true the people there are from here, but you have to keep in mind that they've been in that world for nearly thirty years and that world is different then this one." She sighed. "It's not perfect by any means, but it's getting better…and it's not here. People there are more accepting and there are certainly more choices for women…Just think about it."

Mulan once again eyed her. "Why do you want to help me?"

Regina shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe because if someone had helped me I wouldn't have turned into the monster that I became." She glanced up as she heard the voice of her son coming back down the hallway. "Just think about it." She repeated.

Mulan nodded as Regina began to walk to the door to great the others. "Regina?" She paused when the other woman turned to look at her.

"I'll be your friend." She gave the woman a genuine smile.

Regina smiled back. "And I'll be yours."

"Regina!" Roland bounced into the room. "Joe chased Henry!"

Regina smiled and put an arm around her son's shoulders as he grimaced. "I do not want a goat Mom." Henry stated making all the adults in the room laugh.

"Don't worry Henry." Robin told him. "That goat hates me too."

Mulan walked up to the group. " I believe I am going to turn in for the evening…I'm pretty tired."

When everyone bid the woman a goodnight Henry looked up at Regina. "Mom can you like…magically charge this?"

Regina looked down at him. "You have your Ipod?" She laughed.

Henry grinned a little sheepishly. "Can you believe it?! It's survived two portals and a lost boy war! The battery died weeks ago though…can you fix it?"

She took the Ipod from him. There was a time that he would object to her using magic…fearing that it would make her evil. It was good to know that he had enough faith in her to know that wouldn't happen now. "I suppose." she held the device between her hands and Henry watched as his Ipod once again had life.

He grinned. "Thanks Mom! Hey Roland check this out!"

Robin watched as Henry showed the strange device to Roland. "What is that thing?" He wanted to know.

Regina smiled. "An Ipod, It plays music and you can play games on it."

"Ah." Robin said getting an idea. "So there is the small matter of settling your debts…I believe you have now lost two races."

Regina laughed. "Well Robin the joke is on you, because I came here with nothing."

"Oh but I have already thought of something." He grinned. "Do you know something I haven't done with a woman in a very long time?"

Regina raised an eyebrow. "I can only imagine, but before you share that thought allow me to inform you that a horse race will not win you sex with me."

Robin waited for a beat. "Damn."

Regina let out a throaty laugh at his comically fallen expression.

He once again grinned at her. "Actually Your Majesty what I was _going_ to say was that it has been a very long time since I have danced with a woman, but it's good to know that your mind jumps straight to the gutter when you think of me."

Regina smiled at him. "A dance? That is what you want?"

Robin smiled. "I think a dance with you would be quite lovely." He grinned and took a step closer. "Henry, how about playing a song that your mother and I can dance to."

Henry raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna dance with my Mom?"

Robin shot the boy a look and grinned. "It's her payment for losing the horse race."

Regina raised an eyebrow at Robin. "Is it that hard for you to find a woman to dance with you that you have to win bets? Are you that terrible of a dancer?" She teased.

He smiled. "Well I'm not the best, but you should still have your toes by the end of it." The truth was he just wanted a reason to hold her close again.

Henry thought for a moment then grinned. "I have just the song." The fact that his mom had laughed more in just one day with this man then he'd seen her laugh in a long time was not lost on him.

Regina refrained from rolling her eyes when the song came on. Henry had chosen "Just a Kiss" by Lady Antebellum. She looked over at her son the matchmaker and he grinned.

She took a breath as Robin placed an arm at her waist and took her right hand into his. It had been a long time since she'd danced with a man as well. She struggled to keep her breathing under control as once again the feel of being close to this man sent her heart racing.

She fit perfectly against him as they swayed together to the music. His hand nearly swallowed hers. It still amazed him that the larger then life queen he'd heard of for so many years was actually so petite. It made him want to pull her into his arms and protect her forever.

He listed to the music that Henry had chosen for them to dance to.

_I've never opened up to anyone  
So hard to hold back when I'm holding you in my arms  
We don't need to rush this  
Let's just take it slow_

_Just a kiss on your lips in the moonlight_  
_Just a touch of the fire burning so bright_  
_No I don't want to mess this thing up_  
_I don't want to push too far_  
_Just a shot in the dark that you just might_  
_Be the one I've been waiting for my whole life_  
_So baby I'm alright, with just a kiss goodnight_

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "The music of your world is quite beautiful."

Regina felt her breath catch when she felt his breath against her ear. "It is," She agreed.

He pulled back to look into her face and simply got lost in her eyes. He'd meant this to be a fun dance, something light to make her laugh again, but this…this he hadn't expected.

She couldn't look away. She felt as if she were drowning in him and she didn't much care if she ever had air again. She felt she could stay like this…in this moment forever.

They moved with each other as if they were the only ones in the room. Robin desperately wanted to lean in and place a kiss to her lips. He wanted to pull her closer and wrap his arms around her. He wanted to hold her close forever.

"Guys." Henry said in a flat tone. They looked away from each other to look at their children who for just a moment they'd forgotten were still in the room. "The song's over."

They turned to each other in confusion for a moment before Robin smiled "I suppose I got a little caught up."

Regina blushed slightly and nodded. "Me too."

"Roland asked if we could have a sleep over in his room Mom. Is that ok?" Henry wanted to know.

Regina pulled back from Robin's arms and nodded. "Sure sweetheart. That's fine with me."

"We probably should turn in I suppose." Robin stated.

The four of them left the room and walked towards Roland's bedroom. Once there Regina leaned in to place a kiss to her sons head and hugged him. "Goodnight sweetheart. I love you."

"Love you too Mom." Henry kissed her cheek.

"Can I have one too Regina?" The little boy held his arms up to her with tired eyes.

She smiled down at the sweet little boy. "Of course you can." She leaned in and placed a gentle kiss to Roland's forehead. "Goodnight Roland."

"Night Regina, Night Dad." the little boy rubbed his eyes as he turned over in his bed.

When they exited the room they looked at each other a little awkwardly for a moment before Robin cleared his throat. "I'll walk you to your room." He told her.

"Robin that's really not necessary, I know the way." She gestured.

"I don't mind." He stated and held out his arm for her to take.

After a moments hesitation she took it and fell into step beside him. "Thank you…for all your help today. I really appreciate everything you are doing for us."

He smiled. "It's no problem. Glad I can help."

They arrived at her door and she turned to face him. "Well, goodnight."

He simply looked at her. "Goodnight." He tried to tell his body to turn and leave, but it just wasn't obeying him. "Do you need me to start a fire for you? These old castles get pretty drafty."

She shook her head. "I can do it." she smiled. "I have magic, remember?"

He nodded. "Right, If you need anything…I'm just a few doors down." He gestured to his room.

She nodded. "Ok. Thank you."

He started to turn towards his room, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm. "Thanks again…for everything." She didn't know what possessed her to do it, but she leaned in and placed a soft kiss to his cheek.

He couldn't move. The feel of her soft lips against his skin made him want to pull her to him and taste those lips with his own.

Why did she do that?! Regina scolded herself in her head. What in the hell was wrong with her?! Had she completely lost her mind?!

They sat and stared at each other for one shocked moment before Robin lowered his head and lightly brushed her lips with his. Regina brought her hand to his cheek and they lingered there for just a moment. It was just a soft brush of lips but it sent both of their hearts racing.

"Goodnight Regina." He whispered.

She gave a hint of a smile. "Goodnight Robin."

She turned to walk into her room as he walked towards his, When she closed the door behind her she had to lean heavily against it.

What in the hell was that?!

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**A/N Ok I really hope you all enjoyed this one! :)**

**I gotta be honest I am a little nervous about the Mulan/Regina talk. I hope I did it justice. Considering that the Enchanted Forest still forces women into marriage and the way that Regina always seemed to be "property" I can't imagine that the people there would be very accepting of Mulan. For one because she refused to conform to the traditional "woman's role" as wife and mother. Then add to the fact that she is a lesbian, I just don't see this place as being accepting of her. With the way women are treated there I can't imagine this place is very forward thinking. So again, I really hope I did it justice. Mulan is going to play a pretty big part in this story not only as a friend to Robin and Regina, but she will also have her own story line as well. I just love this character and watching her walk away from Aurora broke my heart. **

**I know...everyone is wondering when the big reveal of Robin's tattoo is gonna happen. I promise it is coming. I'm pretty excited about them getting to know each other without the pressure of being each others true love though, but it will happen soon...very soon...perhaps even the next chapter ;)**

**Ok so obviously you have figured out that reviews get you the next chapter faster so please, let me know what you thought of this chapter!**

**Look me up on tumblr. I'm the queenstolemyheart there too. I have recently been fangirling over my Queens flawlessness...oh wait...I do that everyday on tumblr not just recently lol. **


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N You've done it again! You've motivated me with your reviews to post another chapter after only two days!**

**You all are seriously the best! I am in still shock at the great response this story is getting! Hope you all enjoy this chapter!**

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"Mom!" Regina was awoken by someone jumping into her bed. She cracked open an eye to see Henry lying next to her and grinning at her. "It snowed last night!" He told her with some excitement.

"Yeah Regina! It snowed!" Roland told her as he climbed up into her bed behind Henry.

Regina grinned at both boys and sat up only to have her lap full of a four year old who looked at her adoringly. "Do you think we can build a snowman?" The little boy wanted to know.

She smiled at him. "I don't see why not."

She heard a light knock on the door.

"Regina?" She heard Robin's voice from the other side.

"Yes?" She answered still smiling.

"Did my son happen to come in there?" The man asked from the other side of the door.

She cuddled Roland closer. "He did." She answered him. "You can come in."

Robin smiled when he cracked the door open a little. "I thought I told you two to let her sleep."

Regina smiled. "I don't mind being woken up by two smiling boys." She told him.

"Regina said we could build a snowman." Roland told Robin as he laid his head on her chest.

"I wanna have a snow ball fight!" Henry chimed in.

"Well I don't see any reason we can't do both!" Robin told the boys. "After all, we have no place to be today." He looked back to Regina. "Regina, I thought you may want a change of clothes so I searched the castle and found a few things that might work for you. There's some riding clothes and a couple of dresses. I hung them on the hook outside your door."

Regina smiled at him. "Thank you, that was very thoughtful."

He smiled a little and cleared his throat. "Um…I also thought that you might want something to wear to sleep in…there wasn't really anything like that here in the castle so I hung a few of my shirts out here too…I just thought that may be a little more comfortable for you." He finished.

Regina once again smiled at him. "Thank you Robin, I'm sure they will work perfectly."

Robin smiled and nodded his head. "Henry I found some stuff for you as well. Just a few things. I left them in Roland's room if you want to have a look.

Henry jumped up from the bed. "Sure! Thanks Robin!" He raced off in the direction of Roland's bedroom hoping to find some cool "Enchanted Forest" clothing.

Roland wiggled off Regina's lap and climbed out of the bed. "Henry wait for me!" He said taking off out the door.

Robin laughed as the two kids ran by him. "Your boy is really good with him."

Regina smiled. "My son has a very big heart, plus I think he likes the idea of being someone's hero. It helps that Roland is so incredibly sweet."

Robin smiled. "Yeah he is. Sometimes I look at him in awe, wondering how in the hell I got so lucky."

Regina smiled. "You're a very good father."

"I do my best. I'm not going to lie, when he was born I had no idea what I was doing. My wife died in childbirth so for the first several months I just winged it." He laughed. "She would be proud of him…and hopefully of me and the job I've done so far."

Regina tilted her head and looked at him. "I didn't know her…but I don't know how she couldn't be. You're wonderful with him."

"Thank you." He shook his head. "I should probably let you get out of bed." He smiled. "There's breakfast downstairs when you're ready. After we can get started on making our children's snow dreams come true." He winked at her before turning to walk from the room.

Regina watched as he left. She'd never imagined that the Robin Hood she'd heard of in fairy tales could be quite so complex. She wondered what other things she would learn about the man that might surprise her.

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"I think we should build a whole snowman family Regina!" Roland walked beside her holding her hand as they went. She'd pulled on a pair of men's trousers and one of Robin's shirts for their day in the snow. The dresses he had brought for her would hardly work for moving around while building a snowman. She'd also found a pair of boots that fit pretty well. She'd once again bundled up into one of Robin's coats. It smelled of him and she found it to be a scent she very much enjoyed.

The four of them walked along chatting. Regina was scoping out the land trying to find the best place to make a snowman while Henry ran ahead of them excited to explore this new world.

"Do you get a lot of snow in your world?" Robin wanted to know.

Regina nodded. "We do, although it's been a while since I've had the opportunity to play in it."

"Roland and I play in the snow every chance we get!" Robin stated and ruffled the boy's hair. "Don't we buddy?"

Roland looked up at Regina. "I like the snow." He told her. "It's my favorite!"

She smiled down at him. "Mine too!" She confided.

"Hey Mom!" Henry called out to her as he walked a little closer.

"What is it sweetheart?" She asked raising a brow as her son inched closer.

"Think fast!" Henry yelled before launching a snowball at her and hitting her square in the chest.

Robin and Roland watched wide eyed wondering what her reaction would be while Henry stood looking at her with a half grin on his face.

Regina remained silent as she brushed the cold snow from the front of her before looking back up and meeting her son's eyes. "Henry I hate to do this, really I do." she started. The grin slowly started to fade from Henry's face and he wondered if maybe he'd gone to far and was now in trouble. Regina allowed a small smile to cross her face before informing him. "But you're going down son."

Henry was so shocked by her sudden movement that she'd nearly caught him before he thought to run. He took off laughing, Regina only missing him by a few inches.

Henry laughed as he began to run the other way with Regina chasing after him. He ran behind some trees that lined the area and instead of following Regina decided to cut him off at the end. She saw him coming through the trees looking behind him wondering where she was hiding. By the time he saw that she was actually in front of him it was to late. She had him around the waist and they both fell laughing into the snow.

"No fair!" He laughed! "You cheated!"

"Ha! You wanna talk about fair when you launch a snowball at an unsuspecting victim?!" She tickled him through his coat making him laugh harder.

"Ok I give up!" He said between fits of laughter finding it hard to talk.

Regina tickled him even more. "What was that? I don't think I heard you." She teased.

"I give up!" He said louder still laughing. "You win! You're the snow fight champion of the world!"

She stopped tickling him and smiled. "That's what I thought!" She leaned in to place a smacking kiss to his face and added. "Don't you forget it either!"

She sat back on her heals and Henry sat up to brush himself off. "You know" he whispered in his best undercover voice. "We could call a truce…join forces." He looked over to Robin who was standing with Roland enjoying the show.

Regina arched an eyebrow at her son. "We could."

Without another word they both gathered a snow ball and stood. They slowly began to make their way towards Robin with matching grins on their face. Robin watched as they approached. Any fool could see what they had in mind and he could have turned to run, but instead decided he wouldn't mind playing the game.

He grinned right back at them and put his hands in the air "Now you wouldn't come after a man with his innocent little boy would you?" He turned to gesture to his four year old son only to find that he wasn't there. When he turned back he saw Roland running to Regina and Henry. When he reached them he turned around to grin at his father.

"I'm gonna fight on Henry and Regina's side this time Dad!" The boy informed him.

"Traitor!" Robin yelled laughing. He looked back up at Regina. "What exactly is it about you that all of a sudden my son wants to be on your side."

Regina's grin spread across her face and she gave a throaty laugh. "Can I help it if he wants to be on the winning team?"

Robin's heart once again picked up when he heard her sexy laugh. He understood his son abandoning his team completely…he would abandon himself as well if he could, just to be closer to her. He bent quickly to ball up some snow and as he was bent the first snowballs flew. He laughed as he felt the cold snow against his neck. He launched the ball that he'd just picked up at Henry hitting him in the back as he'd turned to run from it.

Regina ran in one direction and Henry and Roland went the other. He decided to go after Regina…just for the fun of it. She laughed as she hit him on the shoulder with another snowball.

"You know…three against one is hardly fair!" He yelled out as he began to catch up to her. He launched a ball of snow at her back and gave an inward groan when it barely grazed her shoulder.

"You're gonna have to work on your aim!" She hollered back at him. "I thought you were supposed to be some famous archer!" She teased. "You can't even hit me with a snowball!"

He grinned and increased his speed and in seconds he had nipped her around the waist from behind and lifted her in the air! He laughed out loud she shrieked that she needed back up.

"Ha they can't save you now!" He fell backwards into the snow with her. He fell with her on top of him taking the force of the fall to his back making sure not to hurt her on the way down. He laughed then nearly choked as she turned and treated him to a face full of snow.

Regina nearly doubled over in laughter as she watched him try to clear the snow from his face and brush it from his collar to prevent it from going down his shirt.

"A little cold are we?" She said throatily, not even paying attention to the fact she was still sitting in his lap.

She shrieked again when he pulled out the collar of her shirt and dropped a handfull of snow in. This time it was him who nearly doubled over in laughter as she scrambled up and attempted to shake the snow from her shirt. "I don't know…you tell me."

She considered tackling him all over again.

"Don't worry Mom! We're coming!" Regina looked up to see the two boys running towards her.

She smirked at Robin. "My knights have arrived!"

Robin had made his way up to his knees, but when he looked over to see the two boys running towards him he decided to allow himself to be tackled again. He heard Regina laugh as he allowed the boys to push him back into the snow.

"Admit defeat!" Henry yelled as he and Roland remained on top of Robin.

"Ok! Ok!" Robin said. "You've got me!"

Henry jumped up with a whoop. "We won! We defeated him!"

Roland rolled off his father. "Yay we defeated Daddy!"

Regina laughed and knelt down to place a kiss to each head. "My heroes! I knew the two of you would come and rescue me!"

"Can we build our snowmen now?" Roland wanted to know.

"Yeah!" Henry answered. "Lets find a good spot for one." Henry took off with Roland trailing behind.

Robin remained seated in the snow and once again started brushing it from his shirt. He glanced up when he saw Regina's hand extended to him.

"Need a hand." She smiled down at him her brown eyes laughing. Robin was quite certain he'd never seen anything more beautiful in his life.

He grinned up at her and took it, but when he stood up he once again nipped her around the waist, this time wrapping his arms around her until she was pulled up to her tip toes and then lowered his mouth to hers.

Regina felt her head spinning. When had this been turned around on her? She wondered. She sighed as his tongue ran along her bottom lip asking for entry. Her senses were in overdrive. The feel of his arms around her, the smell of him…she found herself desperately wanting to taste. She wrapped her arms around his neck and parted her lips.

He kissed her slowly, wanting to savor the taste of her. God she felt amazing pressed up against him.

They parted both shocked and breathless. They stared into each others eyes for a moment.

"What the hell was that?" Regina asked still not willing to unwrap herself from around his neck.

Robin smiled still breathless. "I just thought I needed to kiss that smug 'I won' grin off your face."

"Mmm." She nodded. They were still only a breath apart. "I think I feel it coming back."

"The smug grin?" He questioned.

"Yes, I'm afraid I really like winning." She smiled up at him.

"I guess I better do something about that then." He began to once again lower his head.

She smiled. "I guess you better." He once again brushed his lips against hers and she felt her heart begin to pick up it's pace.

"Mom!" She herd Henry's voice and they snapped apart.

She looked over to find her son running out from behind the trees with Roland trailing behind. "We're starving!" He whined.

"Yeah…starving!" Roland imitated.

Regina and Robin both looked at each other before Robin answered. "Then I guess it's time to get you something to eat."

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They'd allowed the chatter of their children to take over the lunchtime conversation. Henry was saying how he would like to see the castle that his Mom and Snow used to live in and Roland asked to hear stories about their world for bedtime that night. Regina and Robin had sat through the conversation sharing the occasional smile with each other.

The two of them found themselves alone once again when Roland and Henry went off to Roland's room to play a game.

"Do you…"

"How long have you…"

They laughed as they both attempted to start the conversation at the same time.

Robin gestured to Regina to finish. She shook her head. "I was just going to ask how long you've lived here…in Rumple's place."

"Since the curse hit." He answered. "There was a lot of stuff here that was useful so we thought this would be a good place to set up camp."

She smiled a little. "Aren't you supposed to have a band of merry men?"

He smiled back. "There are a few left. Many of them were taken with the curse, but others dispersed after the curse struck, after that there was no longer any stealing from the rich, but rather pillaging for all we could find. A few of the men remained though. They are currently on a hunting trip." He explained stepping closer. "Game can be hard to come by now so we have to go farther away, which inevitably means longer hunting trips."

She nodded as he moved closer still.

"Regina?"

"Yes?" She asked as he once again brought his hands up to her waist.

"Do you really want to make small talk about my men right now?" He asked

She shook her head and wound her arms around his neck. "No."

This time it was she who pressed her lips to his. It was she who coaxed him into allowing her entry into his mouth.

He could drown in her, was the only thought in his head before he felt her nip his bottom lip and thought nothing at all. If he didn't know better he would swear the earth actually shook.

When once again they parted breathless Robin let out a soft laugh. "Damn you're good at that."

Regina laughed and this time placed a quick chaste kiss to his lips.

He smiled down at her before he felt her tremble a little. "Are you cold?"

She nodded her head. "I still haven't warmed up from somebody putting snow down my shirt." she scolded.

He grinned. "_My_ shirt" He corrected gesturing to the shirt she wore. "Which may I say has never looked better."

She smiled. "It's quite comfortable."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it…you look fantastic in it." He grinned when she blushed a little. He took her by the hand and led her to the fire. "How about I build the fire up a little bit?" He asked rolling up his sleeves as she held her hands out, welcoming the heat.

She smiled as he gathered more wood from the pile to the side of the fireplace. "That sounds perfect."

She watched as he bent and placed the wood on the fire. She had to admit the view was fantastic. Damn this man was sexy.

He made his way over to the couch and settled himself on it. She smiled when he held out his hand for her to join him. She took a step forward but stopped in her tracks when she saw the tattoo on his arm. She looked in shock from his arm back to his face.

His smile faded as he saw her stop and look at him in an odd way.

"Regina?" He furrowed his brow.

Her eyes snapped back up to his and for a moment he could see something that looked like fear there. He watched as she took a deep breath in what seemed to be an attempt to calm herself.

He stood and began to walk towards her. "Regina, what is it?'

She shook her head and stepped back. "It's nothing…I just…" she shook her head again trying to think clearly. "I think I'm going to check on Henry."

He took another step forward and smiled. "Ok I'll come with you."

She shook her head once again. "No…I …I think I'm going to check on him and then take a nap. My…I'm starting to get a headache. I think I just need to lay down for a while."

Robin looked at her with some concern and attempted to raise a hand to touch the spot where she'd hit her head when she came through the portal. "Are you ok? Do you think it has anything to do with you hitting your head?"

She shook her head and once again stepped back from his touch. "I'm fine…I just need to lay down is all." She gave an unconvincing smile. "I'm just gonna head up to my room for a little while. I'll be fine." she said turning from him.

"Ok…If you need anything…"

"I'll find you." she said as she rushed from the room. She felt as if all the air had been stolen from her lungs. How after all these years was this possible?

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**A/N Ahhh the big reveal! Hope you all liked this chapter! You know what I'm gonna say next...Please Review! :)**

**Come by and say hello on tumblr. I'm thequeenstolemyheart there as well. I need people to chat with about the show! I'm so freaking excited. 1. Because I am really suspecting that Regina may be the one to save Henry, and I hope they will begin to heal their relationship when he comes back and 2. Because I can't freaking wait for Regina and Robin to meet! Adfna;slfkn;ldkn! Just so many feels!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Thanks to all my reviewers and to everyone who followed/favored this story!**

**Ok so you are going to see a glimpse of Robin's back story here. There will be a lot more in the next chapter. Just to let you know I have done some research on Robin Hood's origins and there are several different stories, and many disagree on the specifics but most state that he was once some sort of nobility. I'm going with that, but taking quite a few liberties with his early childhood/teenage years. I don't really feel guilty about it…Adam and Eddy do it all the time. **

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She'd been avoiding him. For three days she'd made it a point to not be alone with him. Robin couldn't be sure what he'd done that had caused her to flee the room in what looked like a near panic the night after they'd played in the snow, but whatever it was he was sure that he'd seen fear flash into her eyes. What could he have possibly done to cause her to fear him. That was that last thing in the world he would ever want to do.

He knew that her life before hadn't been a bed of roses. Anyone who felt they had no other way out then Rumpelstiltskin had to have it pretty bad. For Regina to turn into the Evil Queen that everyone in the Enchanted Forest had feared Robin figured something terrible had to drive her to it.

He'd never met her when she was Queen, the only person he'd ever known Regina as was the one he'd met here. The mother that only wanted to protect her son. The sweet caring woman that had also been very sweet to his child, even going so far as singing to him the night before. What had happened to someone with such a gentle nature to turn her into the woman that had burned entire towns to the ground. What hell must she have gone through?

Robin had gone back and forth in his head for days. Obviously nothing could excuse the things she'd done as Queen, but he also understood they way things worked. Especially when it came to royalty and nobility. There had been a war and anyone found to be a traitor to the kingdom would have been sentenced to death. He didn't think any of it was right, but he also understood the "rules" of war. No one understood better then him the casualties that sometimes came with fighting for a cause. People had died at his hand as well. Not because he hated them or wanted to kill them, but because it was a necessary evil in fighting for what you believed in.

Robin had dedicated his entire life to steeling from the rich to give to those less fortunate. He'd been raised in nobility and yet he'd seen the suffering of the poor people in his own town. Such poverty and lack, while the rich (his family included) had squandered what they had on ridiculous things, while the nobility of the land did nothing but waste what they had there were children that were starving and dying. That is the cause that he took up fighting for. That is why he became what he did.

He also understood that just because you lived a life of luxury, it didn't mean that your life was necessarily good. His own family had proven that. After the death of his mother Robin had decided that he would not become what he was expected to be, what the people of his land expected from a "noble" gentleman. He would never bring harm to someone simply because he could. He would never treat a woman as his property, and he would never oppress anyone for any reason. Not because of their gender, color, status or anything else.. He'd left his home (his father disowning him in the process) and gone on a mission to make his world better. He wasn't foolish enough to believe that he'd succeeded in changing people, but he did hope that he'd at least helped. He hoped that some lives had been touched by what he tried to do.

The fact that now it was in his head that he'd done something to cause Regina to fear him made him almost distraught. He'd seen the mess that was his parents marriage. How his mother had suffered because she was seen as property instead of an equal. He never wanted a woman to feel like that with him. He certainly never wanted one to be afraid of him.

Whatever it was that he'd done he needed to make it right. Not only was he upset about the fact that he'd obviously upset her somehow, but he was also sad to lose the banter that they'd developed after only a few days. He'd found that he very much enjoyed spending time with her. She was playful and funny. She was fun to be around and it had been a long time since he'd enjoyed someone's presence quite so much. He sure as hell hadn't felt the feelings that she stirred up in him for a long time. Kissing her had been an experience that he very much wished to repeat. Even though they'd only known each other a few days, he found himself desperately wanting to make her laugh again. He loved watching her with the boys. She was a wonderful mother and she was so sweet to Roland. He enjoyed seeing her smile when she was with them.

That is why he was looking for her now. He needed to talk to her. Not only to apologize if he'd done anything to scare her, but there was something else he wanted to run by her. Something that he hoped would make her happy. He needed to see that gorgeous face smiling at him once again.

Aurora and Phillip had visited only a few days before after meeting with the people Regina called "The Charming's". They still had not found a way home. Aurora had set up a time to meet with them in another week. In the mean time when Regina had not been with the boys she'd locked herself away in Rumple's library pouring through his books.

That is where he found her.

"Regina?"

She jumped slightly when his voice broke the silence and turned to him giving him a tight smile. "Hi."

He entered the room. "Any luck?"

She shook her head and looked back down at the book. "No nothing yet."

He stepped up beside her and felt her stiffen when he gently laid a hand on her shoulder. He allowed it to slide off and sat beside her at the table instead. "I was wondering if you would mind taking a break. There are a few things I would like to talk with you about."

Regina swallowed and turned to face him. "Ok."

He took a breath. "Regina…" He started not sure how exactly to word what it was he wanted to say. "If I did anything to scare you or hurt you. I just…I want to tell you that I'm truly sorry. I certainly never had any intention of upsetting you in any way."

Regina looked into his sincere blue eyes and her face softened. She'd never meant to make him feel he'd done anything. She laid a hand on his arm. "No Robin…you haven't done anything." She took a breath. "I'm sorry I made you think that…It's just…This" She gestured between the two of them. "Us…whatever it is we were doing." she sighed. "It's a terrible idea." He started to speak but she interrupted. "We live in two different worlds and Henry and I have to go back. The only thing us falling for each other would cause is pain."

Robin nodded in understanding. Was this really all it had been? He smiled. "I understand…but that actually brings me to the next thing I wanted to talk about."

When Regina only raised a brow in question he continued. "I've been watching Roland and Henry together for the last few days and it's gotten me to thinking…There are no kids here. Roland has never had another child to play with. He needs that. He needs to have children his age. I can't just keep him here forever, only having me to talk to. He needs friends…" He took a breath. "So I was thinking…I know you invited Mulan to come back with you and she is considering going." He smiled. "She's really all the family I have left and I truly think it would be best for Roland…Regina, how would you feel about Roland and I coming to your world with you?"

Regina sat there in stunned silence for a moment. She never expected that he would actually want to leave this place. "I.." She didn't know what to say. "Umm..I suppose it would be good for Roland. He does need to be around other children." She smiled "And I have grown quite attached to him already."

He smiled at her again and pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "It could also benefit us."

She cleared her throat. "Us?"

He smiled as he inched a little closer. "Well I guess I'm kinda hoping you've grown attached to me as well." He leaned closer until he was only a breath away from her face.

"Robin." She said it on a whispered plea before he closed the distance and covered her mouth with his.

She allowed herself a moment. One moment of this man being close to her. One moment of feeling safe and cared for. One moment of feeling that she could in fact be happy again before pushing him back lightly.

"Robin." she said again. "This can't happen. I don't…" She let out a breath of frustration. "You are a wonderful man and if things were different…if I were different then…" She shook her head unable to come up with the words she was searching for. "We can't be together."

Robin looked at her with some confusion. "I don't understand Regina. A few days ago we were having fun and laughing together. You were letting me hold you close and kiss you…What changed?"

"Nothing changed…I just…I don't want this." she finished on a note of frustration. She couldn't find the words she was looking for.

Robin looked down and nodded. "I see."

Regina saw the hurt in his eyes. "Robin…"

"No. Regina I'm sorry. I never meant to push something on you that you don't want." He looked back up into her eyes. "That's the last thing I would ever want to do." He stood from his chair.

"Robin…I didn't mean that the way it came out. It isn't you… it's just…I can't be with anyone right now. I need to focus all my energy on Henry." She tried to soften the blow.

He turned in the doorway. "Regina, you have nothing to explain to me." He gave her a light smile. "This doesn't change our discussion from earlier, I still want to come to your world…for Roland."

Regina nodded and smiled a little herself although it did not reach her eyes. "It will be good to have a friend there. I don't have many."

He smiled back. "Well you will now."

XXXXXXXX

The next couple weeks passed quickly. Regina and Robin mostly avoided being alone together. There were times when Regina would look up to see him looking at her. She hadn't been able to forget the look of hurt that had crossed his face when she told him she didn't want to be with him.

How was it possible she could hurt him? They'd only known each other a short time. If she were honest though she had to admit that she found herself wishing to be wrapped in those strong arms again. To have his lips pressed against hers. It felt so right to be held by him, kissed by him, but she couldn't let herself go there. She could never fall in love again. It hurt to much when it was ripped away from you. She had become a monster because of lost love and she could never become that again. Henry deserved a mother that he knew would always be there for him. Not an emotionally unstable woman that may snap. The only way Regina could assure herself that would never happen would be to never fall in love again.

She'd remained in the library for the last several days, taking time out only to spend time with Henry and Roland. Roland had become Henry's shadow and did everything that her son did. It really was adorable.

Henry for his part was being very good to the little boy. He hadn't had the opportunity to spend time with a lot of kids and he'd never really had friends his age. Not that Roland could really be considered a friend as he was much to young, but Henry seemed to understand that the young boy idolized him and gave him lots of attention.

Regina herself had fallen pretty hard for Roland as well. He was the sweetest little boy. He reminded her of Henry when he was younger. So ready for adventure and eager to try the next new thing. It also melted her heart that Roland was still young enough to want to cuddle up to her and just let her hold him. It was true that Henry hugged her more now then he had in the past two years, but he was sort of moving past the cuddle with mom phase. He still allowed it sometimes, like the night they'd first arrived here and sometimes when he was feeling tired or scared and didn't want to say it out loud, but he certainly didn't let her hold him the way he did when he was Roland's age.

She missed that and she was happy that after dinner the four year old would often climb into her lap and ask for a story. She was quite happy that the boy would be coming with them back home.

She walked through the castle looking for her son. She'd finally gotten somewhere on her research today. She walked into the great room to find Roland asleep on the couch. He and Henry had been playing earlier that morning and it looked as if the younger boy had just tuckered out.

Regina smiled softly and walked to the couch. She picked up the blanket from the back and spread it over the sleeping child. He looked so sweet she couldn't resist leaning in to place a light kiss to his forehead.

Well she'd found one of them. Now she just needed to fine the other. She walked through the rest of the castle with no luck and decided to check the courtyard and there they were.

Henry was standing with a bow and arrow pointed at a target. His stance was all wrong and he wasn't holding the bow straight. She watched as Robin came up behind him and patiently instructed him on the proper stance. Henry let the arrow fly and missed the target altogether. Robin once again stepped behind him and gave him careful instruction, helping him to adjust his posture. She watched in silence as the two of them continued their lesson unaware the were being watched.

Robin was so good with him. She couldn't take her eyes from the two of them. When anyone else may have gotten frustrated Robin would patiently reinstruct Henry on the proper stance and how to aim. When Henry finally hit the bulls eye of the target he turned with a huge smile to Robin who wrapped an arm around him smiling.

Why in the hell did he have to be so wonderful? Regina thought to herself.

She cleared her throat finally making her presence known and the two looked over to her grinning.

"Mom did you see that?!" Henry asked running to his mother.

"I did." She smiled down at him before placing a kiss to his head. "I had no idea my son was such an excellent archer."

Henry smiled. "Robin was teaching me."

She looked up to the man with a full smile. "Yes I saw that. Thank you."

Her smile made his heart beat faster. Even with the passage of two weeks Robin's heart still jumped in his chest every time her smile was directed at him. "You're welcome." he ruffled Henry's hair. "You're quite good. With more practice I bet you'll hit it every time."

Henry smiled at him. "Do you think you could practice with me some more? Like even after we get back to Storybrook?"

"Sure." He answered "As long as it's ok with your Mom."

Regina smiled. "Of course it's ok." She pulled her son to her side. "Speaking of Storybrook I think I may have found something in the library."

"A way to go home?!" Henry wanted to know.

She smiled at him. "Maybe, I can't be sure until I check it out, but Rumple wrote in one of his journals that he suspected there may have been something in Maleficent's castle. He believed she was keeping something from him. A way to travel between worlds, but he was never able to find it. I think it's worth checking out."

"Maleficent's castle?" Robin questioned. "That's in the north right?"

Regina nodded. "Yes I'm going to leave in the morning. I should be able to get there in two days."

"Mom, why don't you just poof yourself there?" Henry wanted to know.

"Because even if there is something there that can get us back to Storybrook, it is going to take magic to activate it…probably a lot of magic so I need to store up as much magical energy as I can."

"Oh." Henry nodded. "Can I come."

She shook her head. "Not this time sweetheart. It could be dangerous and I'm going to need to focus all my energy on finding the portal." She turned back to Robin "I'll need a horse."

"Regina, this is a dangerous trip. The ogre's are back. You can't go by yourself." Robin stated from beside Henry.

Regina rolled her eyes. "I've made the trip several time's by myself Robin this isn't any different."

"Actually it's a lot different." Robin explained. "Things are not the same as they were when you were here before. It's not safe! Especially for a woman by herself."

"I'll be fine, I have magic remember."

"Magic won't always protect you Regina, I'm not going to let you go alone."

Regina raised an eyebrow at that. "You're not going to _let_ me?" Her eyes flashed with anger. "Since when did I give any indication that you have a say in what I do with my life? Who in the hell do you think you are?! You have absolutely no right to tell me what to do!"

Robin felt his anger begin to flare as well. "I'm not telling you what to do! I didn't tell you not to go, I just said that you're not going alone! I'm not gonna have you going off and getting yourself killed simply because you want to prove a point to me!"

Regina gave a humorless laugh. "Just like a man! You would think that this is all about proving a point to you!"

"No you're not going to turn this around because you want to be stubborn! I'm going Regina and that is the end of it! I'm not letting you run off and put yourself in danger when you have a son that you need to get back to safely!"

Regina was pulled from her angry retort when she felt Henry touch her arm. "Mom, if it really is dangerous you shouldn't go alone. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Henry, I'll be fine." Regina answered softening her voice some.

"Mom! Please! Just let Robin go. I won't be able to think about anything else if you are alone. I want to know you're safe."

"Henry…" She looked down into the face of her son and saw the concern in his eyes. She let out a breath. "Fine." She looked back up at Robin. "You can come, but stay out of my way!"

"Agreed!" Robin stated happy that he'd won that battle.

Henry hugged her around the waist. "You can't be running off from him once you're on the trail either." Henry stated as he cuddled up to his mother.

Regina let out a huff as she'd already had a half formed plan to ditch Robin while he was sleeping.

"Mom.." Henry said in a voice that sounded very much like her own when she was scolding him.

She placed a kiss to her son's head. "I promise."

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**A/N So for all of you who were enjoying happy Regina, sorry about this chapter, and I'm gonna warn you next chapter is gonna be worse, but if you hang in there I promise it will get better!**

**To reviewer md88 that wanted to see Regina sick and Robin caring for her, sorry this fic didn't go in that direction, but if you keep reading I promise you will see him taking care of her in other ways. (Take that anyway you want) ;)**

**So you guys know what I love to see! Let me know what you think! We are at 89 reviews right now…100****th**** reviewer gets a Regina prompt. Any pairing, any subject, doesn't even have to be a pairing, could be a Regina/Henry prompt.**

**I am also two followers away from 300 right now on tumblr. The next two follows I get on tumblr will also get a prompt, again any pairing and any subject. I'm thequeenstolemyheart there as well. It may take me a little while to get them all written but I promise I will! **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Ok so guest reviewer Evil Panda was my 100****th**** review. Please get in touch with me either here through a review or on tumbr if you have a prompt you would like to see!**

**Thanks to all who read/followed/reviewed the last chapter. You are all amazing!**

**Ok so I'm just gonna apologize for this chapter. It is really painful and I'm not exaggerating. You may just want to skip it altogether. I had to do it though, because until Regina works through her past she will never be free for happiness in her future.**

**This chapter gets pretty real for both Robin and Regina. I am taking this up to an M rating because of the content and also going to add in some trigger warnings. There are references to sexual assault in this chapter. I do not go into specifics, but there are some references to what she was thinking. If this could be a problem for you I suggest skipping over the parts in italics. The rest is all her reaction to the memories, but still painful. I just want to give everyone a fair warning.**

**Also Robin's back story has some painful memories and there is a brief reference to suicide when he talks of his mother's story. As I said I have taken some liberties with his character so be warned there as well. If that hasn't convinced you not to read this chapter yet then here it is. **

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They rode side by side, but neither spoke. Regina was still angry she hadn't gotten her way and that Robin had come along for her journey to Maleficent's castle. She'd spent the last two weeks doing her best to avoid being alone with the man and now here they were alone together, for at least four days.

Robin kept conversation to a minimum because it was pretty clear that she didn't want him to be here. He still couldn't figure out what it was that had happened between them. The first few days they were together she'd had fun and laughed with him, but now she acted as if she didn't want to be anywhere near him.

Then there were times he would look up and see her watching him with what looked like longing in her eyes. Why would she look at him like that? If she truly did want him she could certainly have him. He wanted nothing more then to be close to her again.

What was it about her that made him long to be close to her. He wanted to hold her, to pull her into his arms and never let go. He wanted to take care of her and make her feel safe. He only wished she would let him.

"There's a clearing just up ahead." He told her. "It's probably a good place to set up camp for the night."

Regina said nothing, but nodded her head.

When they arrived at the spot they worked together to set up camp. Robin built a lean-to for Regina to block the wind.

Now they sat around the fire in silence eating the food they'd brought with them for dinner.

"So is it going to be like this the while time?" He asked.

"Like what?" Regina asked him.

"You being angry that you didn't get your way and come alone?"

Regina scoffed. "Only because you scared my son into making me promise to bring you. I would have been fine on my own."

Robin gave a half laugh. "I have no doubt…still though it's always better to travel in pairs. You never know what may happen."

Regina sighed as she looked at him. She was having difficult time staying angry with him. Especially when she knew the only reason he was so adamant about coming was to make sure she was safe. She let out a loud sigh.

"So why don't you tell me about yourself." she requested.

Robin raised a brow. "Now you want to know about me?"

Regina looked back to the fire. "Well if we're going to spend the next several days together we might as well talk."

Robin gave a half smile. "What do you want to know?"

Regina shrugged. "I don't know. How did you become the man who steals from the rich to give to the poor?"

Robin let out a sigh. "Well I suppose it all started with my mother. I was raised in nobility but my mother used to tell me of the poor where she was from. She was not from Nottingham so things where she'd come from were different. There was a lot of poverty and many starving people. My father had traveled to her country and fell in love with…or probably more accurately thought she was beautiful and had to have her. He offered her family a handsome dowry and they being in desperate need accepted."

He shook his head. "My mother never wanted to marry my father. She wanted to stay in her country with her family, but she was never given a choice. So she did marry him and spent her life miserable. I believe I was her only joy. The nobility of our land treated us differently because my mother was foreign. They believed she didn't belong. Her class wasn't nearly high enough for her to mingle with them. My father ended up resenting her for it." Robin shook his head and let out a humorless laugh. "The woman that he forced into an unwanted marriage and he blamed her for their troubles."

"Anyway as a child she told me stories of the poverty that she was from. How the children there starved and lived in deplorable conditions. She wanted me to see farther then the narrow world that I lived in. I was never really able to wrap my mind around it…Until after she died." A far off look of sadness came in to his eyes. "It was supposedly and accident, she fell from a tower of our castle, but I think my father knew the truth. She couldn't take living with him anymore…so she ended it."

Regina sat listening to the story of this man and heard the echoes of her own past.

"After she died I went to her country to meet my family and see if things were really as she said. They were worse then I could have ever imagined. Children that were nothing but skin and bones…illness, filthy conditions, while the leaders of the country sat in their palaces and squandered everything they had. I remember thinking how could people see this and ignore it? I remember wondering how my father had come here and ignored it." He shook his head. "Although I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, He ignored his own wife's misery for years…actually creating more of it."

"I went back home and told him I wanted to help these people. He only laughed at me. He told me I was living a fools dream, that there would always be people in poverty and nothing I could do would ever change that. I was so angry that I left. He told me if I walked out the door to never come back…and I didn't.

He looked back up and met Regina's eyes. He saw the tears glistening there. "It was then that I made up my mind I would never be like him…I would never be like the people I was raised around my whole life. I would never oppress people just because my status said I could. I would never force a woman into a marriage she didn't want to be in and I would never judge a person based on where they were born or how much they had. I wanted to be different from my father. I wanted to be a better person then he was, so I did the only thing I could think of to help the people who needed it most."

He shook his head. "I had no resources so I began robbing the people who could afford it. I never took from anyone that it may cause hardship too. I'm not proud of everything I've done. Men have died at my hand…for my cause…but after everything it is a cause I still believe in."

Regina sat absolutely mesmerized by his story. She wasn't sure she'd ever seen so much passion come from anyone. "And now?"

He shrugged. "Things are different now…there are no longer rich and poor. After the curse hit we were all just people trying to survive. There's also my son. If I were to go back to doing what I used to do it would obviously put my life in danger. If anything ever happened to me it would leave him with no one."

"And your wife? How did you meet her?" She wanted to know.

He laughed. "On one of my many adventures. She didn't like me much at first, but I kinda grew on her." He winked at Regina. "I'm an acquired taste I think."

Regina laughed as he continued. "My wife was beautiful, and one of the sweetest women I'd ever met. She believed in my cause, but like I said she wasn't so fond of me at first, but we ended up falling in love." His smile faded. "When she got pregnant with Roland she also got very sick. I did everything I could for her, even breaking in to Rumple's castle to find a remedy but it only kept her alive long enough to give birth to Roland." He looked down at the ground. "She never even got to see him."

Once again a tear rolled down her cheek. "I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "Me too, but I know that she would be so proud of him. He's such a great kid. How could she not be?" He looked back up to Regina. "It was a long time ago, before the curse struck…I still miss her, but it has gotten easier. Having Roland has helped a lot. I don't know what I would do without him."

"Being alone…all this time, it must have been lonely." She stated knowing from experience just how lonely a person can get.

He nodded. "Sometimes, but like I said I have Roland, and I guess I hold out hope that there is happiness out there for me still. That maybe one day I can find love again."

Regina felt her heart skip at his words.

He smiled before gesturing to the lean-to. "We should probably turn in if we're going to get an early start in the morning. I'll sleep here by the fire and keep it going to tonight. It's gonna get pretty chilly."

Regina nodded and stood. She turned back to look at the man sitting by the fire. "Robin." He looked back up at her. "You're going to make some woman very happy one day."

He gave her a soft smile. "Is it crazy that I'm still hoping that woman may be you?"

Regina closed her eyes, for the first time in a long time feeling hope before she pushed it aside. "Goodnight Robin."

"Goodnight Regina."

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_She couldn't breathe. The weight on her chest, the smell, was it whiskey? She felt bile rise into her throat._

_Oh God…when would this be over? Why couldn't she just die? She would be with Daniel then. She would be with her lost love._

_She whimpered as the hands she did not welcome possessed her as if she belonged to them. She cried out as pain…horrible wrenching pain tore through her body._

"Regina!"

She awoke with a scream that sent a wave of horror through his body. She fought against the hands he had placed on her arms to waken her. He let go, and allowed her to scramble away from him.

"Regina." He said again in as calm a voice as he could muster. "It's ok, you were dreaming."

She looked at him with wild eyes.

"You were just dreaming, honey…it's ok, you're safe."

She stared at him as if finally remembering where she was. Her breathing was still frantic but he could see her coming back to herself. He walked to his things to get the canteen of water and brought it back holding it up for her to take.

After a few more frantic breaths she took it and tipped it up for a sip.

He'd awoken to the sound of pure agony. The sound of grief that came from her nearly ripped him in two. He sat in silence just watching her. He wanted to give her the time she needed to get herself feeling calm again.

What the hell had happened? Regina thought somewhat frantically. She hadn't had that dream in years. It had been long buried with so many other terrible memories of her past. It must have been the story of Robin's mother, the things he'd shared had brought her past to the surface. The things she'd long ago hidden under the guise of anger and revenge. You weren't as scared when you were angry. There was no one to be afraid of when you had all the control.

She shivered a bit as she remembered the dream…No…she needed to get rid of it. Fear was not acceptable! Fear was weakness. She needed to gain her control back. She needed to erase his memory…replace it.

"Regina," Robin was concerned when he saw the strange look come into her eyes. One minute she'd been what seemed like a terrified little girl and now…now there was something else. Something he didn't recognize. He took a chance and lifted his hand to lightly stroke her arm. "Hey, are you ok?"

Her eyes snapped to his. There was something strange…something almost cold that he hadn't seen before. Before he could think she was on him. Before he could react she was pressing her lips to his. The kiss was hungry desperate and very different from anything they'd shared so far.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as if she were clinging to him for her life. She straddled his lap and ground herself into him. Her mouth left his and she began to trail her lips down his throat. He was still trying to figure out what was happening when she took his shirt into her hands and ripped it down the middle sending buttons flying. She wasted no time in pushing it from his shoulders. She once again attached her mouth to his throat and he let out a hiss when she nipped his shoulder. He could barely think through the sensations she was building in his body.

Gods he wanted this woman more then he wanted his next breath!

He pulled her lips back up to his and kissed her again deeply. He thought he might die with how much his body wanted her. He let out a moan when she trailed her hands down his chest lowering them to the button of his trousers.

That was when he felt it. That was the moment he was snapped out of the unbelievable things she was doing to his body.

Her hands were trembling.

"Regina." he said it softly at first.

When her trembling hands continued to struggle with the button he laid his over them. "Regina. Stop."

She looked at him. Still with that odd look in her eyes. "Stop?" She drawled in a voice he didn't recognize. "Why should we stop?" the unfamiliar voice seduced and terrified him all at the same time.

Was this the Queen? Was this the woman everyone had feared?"

"Because your trembling Regina." He said softly and lightly rubbed her hands in an attempt to soothe her back into the woman he knew again.

Regina blinked in a small amount of confusion and leaned back in to kiss him once more. The kiss started out hard, but Robin brought his hands up to gently cup her face. He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. He gently stroked her hair back. "What did you dream about Regina?"

Regina blinked when she felt tears rise to her eyes. She shook her head and decided to ignore the question. She gave him a predatory smile and dipped her fingers just below his waist band and lightly traced them back and forth along his lower stomach. "Robin I know you want me." As if to prove her point she ground her hips down onto him making him hiss at the contact.

He moaned on instinct at the feel of her rubbing against him, but kept his touch light. He continued to stroke her face. "You're right…I do want you Regina." He watched as her eyes lit in triumph then he leaned in and placed a gentle kiss to her mouth. "But not like this." He lowered his hands down once more to take hers. He pulled them both up and pressed his lips to her knuckles. "Not while your trembling." He watched as she swallowed and once again blinked back tears. He brought her hands up to rest against his chest and once again took her face into his hands "Not while your afraid."

She shook her head. "I'm not afraid." She lied, but when she looked into his knowing eyes she knew that he knew she was lying. "I…" she raised her hands to his face and pressed her lips against his, this time in desperation. "Robin, I just want to forget…I want you to help me forget."

Robin looked at her as the first tears began to fall. He wiped them away with his thumbs and said gently "Sweetheart, what did you dream about."

Regina closed her eyes and pressed her lips together. She shook her head. No she couldn't tell him…she couldn't tell anyone. She could never share that part of herself.

"Hey" He said gently and lowered his hands to her waist. He knew…he knew from experience what holding pain in did to a person and he knew that she would never be free from it unless she got it out…so he pushed. "You can tell me." he ran his hands up and down along her back before whispering. "You're safe with me."

Regina let out a sob and pressed her hand to her mouth. No! Her head screamed at her. This is not what she did! She didn't show weakness! Not ever! But he was here. He wasn't leaving, he wasn't giving up and he was promising her safety. No one had ever promised her that before.

"Talk to me Regina."

She let out another sob and he continued to stroke her back. She felt the dam break and couldn't hold it in anymore. She needed to let it out…all of it, the hate, the anger, the fear and disgust. She needed to get it as far away from her as she could.

"My wedding night." She said it on a choked sob.

Robin looked at her for a moment. He felt his heart stop when he read between the lines of the three word statement she'd just said to him.

"Regina…" He said it on a whisper, devastated by what she'd had to endure, by what she'd kept hidden for all this time. "Baby, I'm so sorry."

She let him pull her to him. She wrapped her arms around him and she let go. All the pain, the sorrow, the shame poured out of her as she sobbed against his shoulder.

The bastard, the fucking bastard! Robin thought as he held the broken woman tight against him. He wished the fucker was here right now so he could wrap his hands around his throat and choke the life out of him.

This…Regina crying in his arms was the reason he refused to allow his father to arrange a marriage for him. He could never treat a woman as if she were his property. He could never give a woman memories like this that she would then have to carry around for a life time of torment.

It hadn't just been the poor he'd fought for, but for women like Regina…taken unwillingly as a wife by a royal simply because he could.

There was nothing he could say. No way he could possibly make it better. He wished he could take every ounce of pain away from her. He wished he could go back in time and ride to her rescue before any of this happened, but he couldn't. There was no fixing it, there was no undoing it. The only thing he could do for her now is to let her get it out of herself and let her know that she never had to be alone again.

Not if she didn't want to.

He brought one hand up to the back of her head and stroked her hair lightly while rubbing her back with the other. He gently rocked back and forth in a gesture of comfort.

He held her until her heart wrenching sobs began to quiet, until he felt her body starting to relax into his hold and her face resting in the crook of his neck.

The smell of him was a comfort. She felt as if it was the only thing keeping her sane in that moment. She felt completely exhausted as she rested against him.

The feel of him stroking her hair and back soothed her. This was the one time in her life she could truly say that she felt absolutely and completely safe.

She pulled back a little so she could look at his face. "Thank you."

"Regina…" He began but Regina shook her head.

"I don't want to talk tonight." She stroked his hair lightly. "I'm tired Robin."

He shook his head in understanding. She'd bared enough of her soul to him for one evening.

"Will you stay with me?" She asked.

How in the hell could he say no when those sad brown eyes were looking at him that way? "Of course I will."

Regina moved off of him and he moved to lay down on the blankets she'd laid out. Once he settled his head into the pillow she laid next to him. He wrapped his arms around her and she settled herself against his chest and rested her hand over his heart. Without another word she let his heartbeat soothe her and after a few minutes it began to lull her back to sleep. This time with the knowledge that she was safe and no monsters of her past would come for her as long as he stood watch. She finally felt something like peace as she fell into a dreamless sleep.

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**I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry! This chapter was so hard for me to write. It was horrible really. When I started this story I planned for it to be a sweet fluffy thing that would make Regina happy and we could all just die of family feels, but unfortunately after I got into the writing I realized that Regina has had anything but a fluffy life and the only way she will ever truly be happy is if she lets go of her past. **

**Can I get a sigh of relief that it is over now? It will come up again in later chapters and in a different way and there will be a little of it in the next chapter, but nothing to heavy. Rest assured there is some light fluffiness coming your way.**

**Reviews= my crack. I think all of you have learned that by now! Please share what you thought of this chapter and I completely understand if you want to yell at me. **


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Thank you for all the kind reviews from the last chapter. My poor Regina. This chapter is kinda short, but it's much sweeter and fluffier as promised! Hope you enjoy!**

**For guest reviewer Evil Panda, would you like your prompt to be part of this story, or a one shot? Because it could eventually work here or I could write something new. Let me know!**

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It felt good. Being wrapped in his arms. Feeling protected and cared for. Robin was the first person in a long time who had given Regina the feeling of being safe.

She'd let him see a part of herself the night before. It had been a part of herself that she'd never let anyone see. Now in the light of day she kicked herself for it. This was not who she was. She didn't let people see her vulnerable.

There was something about Robin though. Something that made her feel secure. She honestly couldn't recall ever having felt this safe with another human being. Even with Daniel there had been fear. Fear of her mother, and of the future that she couldn't be sure they would be allowed to have.

Turned out that fear had been spot on. They hadn't been allowed that future. It had been ripped from her just as her innocence had. It had been stolen from her just as her choices of how to live her life had.

But being wrapped in this man's arms felt good, it felt…right. With him she felt she had nothing to fear and that quite frankly terrified her.

How could she feel safe and afraid all at the same time?

She'd lain here awake for quite a while but had kept her eyes closed. She didn't want to let in the daylight, because with the daylight came reality and the reality was she didn't know what the hell she was doing.

On one hand she wanted to give herself to this man…take a chance and let him in. On the other hand she wanted to run screaming in the other direction.

When she'd been in Neverland and Tink had brought up the man with the lion tattoo it had made her long for something that she had no business longing for. It made her long for a connection to someone, another human being. She wanted to fall in love again, she wanted to be held and kept warm. She wanted to be loved, but at the same time she wanted to keep love as far away as possible. Love made you open yourself up. Love made you vulnerable. Taking a chance and allowing love back in could mean loosing it as well.

Regina wasn't sure that was something she could ever go through again.

Unfortunately she was going to have to face reality sometime. She opened her eyes only to find the vivid blue ones looking back at her. They were laying on their sides facing each other still holding on to one another.

"Hi." He brought his hand up to push the hair back from her forehead.

She continued to study him. "Hi."

"Are you warm enough? I didn't really maintain the fire last night. I could start another if you like." He told her.

She shook her head not wanting to move from the safety of his arms just yet. "No I'm warm." As if to prove her point she cuddled in just a little closer.

He wrapped his arm around her and rubbed up and down her back. "Good."

She looked back into his eyes. "Thank you…for last night."

"You're welcome." He answered.

"You're not going to ask questions? You don't want to know more about why I lost my mind after that dream?" She asked him.

He brought his hand back to her face and stroked her cheek gently. "Only if you want to tell me."

She shook her head. "I would rather not."

He gave her a small smile. "Then we don't have to."

She couldn't resist leaning in and placing a light kiss to his mouth which caused his smile to spread a little wider.

"I'm sorry about…um…the other part of last night. Trying to seduce you." She said turning a bit red at the memory.

He gave a crooked grin. "You are quite good at that by the way. Very hard to say no to."

"But you did." She pointed out. "Why? I think we both know you wanted me."

He nodded slightly and brought his hand back to her waist. "I did, but when we make love Regina it isn't going to be because you are trying to forget your past or trying to replace bad memories." He'd said it in a serious tone because he meant it, but decided to lighten the moment a bit and leaned in close to her. "No, when we make love it's going to be…" He paused giving it some dramatic effect. "Because you want my body."

He shot her a wicked grin when she laughed. "There it is." He stated simply.

"What?" She asked still grinning.

"That beautiful smile I can't seem to get enough of." He leaned in and placed a kiss to her lips. "Do you know that every time I see that smile my heart skips a beat?"

"Robin…" She sighed. She didn't want to let reality in, but she had too. "I think it's obvious that no matter what I said before about us being together that I'm drawn to you…that I.." She let out a breath of frustration. "I don't know how to do this!"

"How about you stop thinking so much." Robin suggested.

"Meaning?" She asked.

"It just seems to me Regina that you over think everything. How about just letting yourself feel what you're feeling? How about letting your heart lead you?"

"That can be very dangerous." she told him.

"It can be, but it can also bring you to the happiness that I know you desperately want to find." He leaned up and placed a kiss to her forehead before shifting and sitting up. "How about some breakfast?"

They ate in companionable silence both thinking on the events that had taken place the pervious night and this morning.

Regina looked up at him as she finished off her breakfast. He was so wonderful. He was gentle and kind, he was a good father and a good friend. She got the feeling that he would go to the ends of the earth for the people he loved.

Every since Daniel's death Regina had been afraid to take any chances, she'd been afraid to allow her heart guide her. She'd been terrified that she would once again lose everything. Truthfully the only person who had ever been able to claim a place in her heart since Daniel died had been Henry. He was the only one she'd ever let in.

Robin was the first person besides her son that actually made her want to try. He was the only person who'd ever made her want to be open to being vulnerable to another human being. She absently began to pack up the camp site as she continued on her train of thought.

If she was going to give this a chance…give him a chance she needed to start with honesty. The one thing she'd learned from her rocky couple of years with Henry was that honesty was the key. If she kept things from him because she was afraid he would walk away she would never be able to relax. If she couldn't trust that he would stay would she ever truly be able to let him in?

She was pulled from her thoughts when she felt his hand take hers lightly from beside her.

"Can I ask you a question?" He asked.

Regina shrugged. "I suppose."

"Does this morning change anything?" She lifted a brow in question. "I just mean do you think maybe we could try again at the us thing? You did kiss me again…so I guess I'm just wanting to know if…" He trailed off for a moment then gave a sheepish smile. "I might get more of those?"

She couldn't help but smile at his question. He looked completely adorable as he waited for her answer.

"You said when." She told him.

Robin looked at her in confusion. "What?"

"This morning when I asked why you didn't take what you obviously wanted from me last night…You said _when_ we make love…not if."

He gave her a crooked grin. "I guess I have confidence in my abilities to make you fall for me?" He said it questioningly.

She smiled before leaning in to give him a light kiss. "Well one should believe in oneself." She stated.

"How very cryptic of you." He said as she still hadn't really answered his question.

She smiled. "There is something I have to tell you before you decide if trying a relationship with me is really something you want." She looked down. "I haven't been completely honest with you."

"Ok?"

"A few years before I cast the curse…before my heart had been turned completely dark, when I was still just learning from Rumple, I met a fairy named Tinkerbell."

"Tinkerbell? Interesting name."

Regina smiled. "Tinkerbell believed that she knew the answer to all my problems…I simply needed to find my true love. So she stole some pixie dust and cast a spell to take me to him. The pixie dust led us to a tavern in town and when and we arrived sure enough there he was glowing. I didn't see his face but Tinkerbell assured me that he was the one. He was the man I was destined to be with and all I needed to do was go inside and meet him."

"You didn't go in." It wasn't a question. Obviously she wouldn't be here now if she had.

"No." she shook her head "I couldn't let go of my anger and hatred. It was all I had. What would I be without it?"

Robin nodded. He thought he was beginning to understand. "So you're saying that you have a true love out there just waiting for you to find him."

"Well see that's the thing I…"

"No, I get it Regina, I mean who doesn't want true love. I understand." He told her.

"Actually Robin I don't think you do…"

"You know what.?" He interrupted. "No."

"No?" she questioned.

"Yeah…No. I mean who in the hell is this fairy anyway? Are you sure she did the spell right? Are you just gonna go for this guy because…what? Fairy dust told you so?"

"Pixie dust actually…which is much stronger." She told him beginning to enjoy this a little bit.

He paid no attention as he began to rant "I mean hell Regina this guy could be some asshole somewhere! You don't even know him!"

"I don't think he's an ass…"

"You know it doesn't matter who he is! I don't care if he's Prince fucking Charming!" he told her.

"Ok! Eww! Robin if you would just listen for a minute.." She started before being pulled in to his arms and kissed.

He pulled back from her and kept his arms tight round her waist. "I can make you happier then any Prince Charming can Regina."

She actually laughed out loud. "Believe me dear I have no doubt of that!"

"I know we just met, but Regina…we could build something…something real. Not like some faceless true love, but something right. We can make our own true love if you just give us a chance. No one has ever made me feel the way you do." he laughed. "Hell after only knowing you a few weeks you make my heart skip a beat every time I see you…every time you smile."

Touched by his words she brought her hand to his face. "I believe we could Robin, but I'm still going to tell you who he is."

He shook his head. "I don't care who he is Regina."

She raised an eyebrow still not having moved out of his arms. "Even if he's you?"

"No! It doesn't matter if…wait, what?"

She smiled. "It was you Robin."

He shook his head still refusing to let her go, afraid she may slip away. "I thought you said you didn't see his face."

She shook her head "I didn't."

"Then how do you know?…" he trailed off as she took his arm into her hands and pulled his sleeve up.

"I saw this." She ran her hand over the tattoo on his arm.

Everything finally began falling into place. "That night by the fire…you saw my tattoo."

She nodded. "Yes."

"That's why you ran from me. You were afraid of having another true love."

She once again nodded her head. "Yes."

He looked at her with an awed expression. "It was me."

She smiled. "It was."

He grinned. "Wow that pixie dust is some powerful stuff."

She refrained from laughing at his change of heart towards pixie dust. "You know…I'm starting to think you were right though. I mean why in the hell should I let fairy dust control my destiny."

"Not fairy dust…pixie dust…it's much stronger." He echoed her from earlier and she laughed.

"Still if I don't want to follow what pixie dust says I should do then I shouldn't. I mean it's my life."

"But…it's true love Regina…it's destiny…It's meant to be."

She laughed again. "A few minutes ago you thought all of that was crap."

He leaned in and nuzzled her neck. "That's before I found out it was me."

"This terrifies me Robin." She confided.

"I know." he leaned in and placed a kiss to her forehead. "But I promise I will do everything I can to make you not afraid anymore."

She shook her head and placed her hands on either side of his face. "It's not going to be easy. I…I don't know how to love very well."

He pulled her into a hug and allowed her to rest her head against his chest. "It seems to me, especially watching you with your son that you love better then most."

She breathed in the scent of him. She allowed herself to feel the comfort that his arms provided. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

He kissed her hair. "You don't have to be."

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**Aren't they sweet? Hope you liked this chapter! Review please!**

**Hope you all have a wonderful weekend! Look me up on tumblr. I'm the queenstolemyheart there! I think I will probably need some people to fan girl with after this weeks episode. I'm hoping for lots of Regina!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N As always thank you so much for the reviews and follows! You all keep me motivated! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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The castle was just as dark as she remembered it being. It was odd to be here now. The last time she'd come it had been to get the curse from Maleficent and finally have her revenge. She'd believed that it would make her happy.

It had…indirectly. It was the curse that had brought her Henry. She couldn't fully regret casting it because if she hadn't her son would not be alive today. A world without her little boy would not be one that she would want to live in.

When she'd come here the last time Maleficent had tried to convince her that she was making a mistake and the curse would never make her happy. She'd been right about that part. The curse hadn't made her happy, but Henry had. She'd had to darken her heart to do it. Even more then she'd already done in her time as queen. She never thought that she would be able to feel love for another human being. She didn't think it was possible after everything, but then there had been her baby.

The first time she'd looked into his sweet little face she'd fallen for him. Finally here was someone that would allow her to love him. Here was someone who may just love her back.

And he had.

She wouldn't trade one minute she'd spent with Henry. While her old friend had been right that the curse itself would not make her happy, one of the results of it had.

Henry made her happier then she'd ever been. Happier then anyone ever could.

Robin watched her as she walked around the great room and the two chairs that sat by the fireplace. He could tell that she was in a different place and he wondered what was going through her mind.

"It looks the same." she stated. "Almost as if it's been frozen in time."

"I think even the pillagers were afraid to come here." He looked around. "This castle looks pretty daunting."

She looked up at him and smiled. "Lucky for us. Hopefully that will make what we are looking for easier to find."

He raised a brow at her. "And what exactly are we looking for?" He wanted to know.

She gave a half laugh. "I have no idea. Rumple only stated that he believed that Maleficent was hiding something. He never actually mentioned what it may be."

"Great!" Robin clapped his hands together. "Where do we start?"

Smiled at him. "Maleficent had many secrets. We just need to find them."

"You speak of her fondly." Robin observed.

Regina shrugged. "She was my friend. The only one I ever had. She had a terrible reputation, but like me she was very misunderstood." She looked up at him. "You fought for the poor and oppressed people. The people that royalty and nobility walked over everyday. You don't necessarily have to be poor to be oppressed though. The king…the father of Briar Rose wasn't exactly innocent. It doesn't excuse anything, but everyone has their motivations. Maleficent was no different."

He nodded. Perhaps this was one of the reasons he could understand her. He'd done terrible things as well, but he'd had his motivations in doing them. After last night he could certainly understand her's a bit better. It would be nearly impossible for someone to live through the hell that he imagined she had at the hands of her husband. It wouldn't take long for a person to snap.

His mother certainly had only she'd directed it in on herself. Regina had turned her anger on others.

It wasn't lost on him that the people who had suffered her wrath had been the ones that harbored Snow White in some way. He still wasn't sure what had gone down between Regina and her step daughter, but Robin was smart enough to figure out that Regina blamed her for ruining her life.

His guess was that Snow White had somehow been the reason Regina ended up married to the king.

Robin followed behind her as they searched the castle. He considered splitting from her to save time, but then time wouldn't really be saved as he had no idea what he was looking for or how to detect magic. Regina would simply have to go back over the rooms he went through. Plus this way he got to spend time with her.

"So I told you about myself last night." He grinned as he watched her study a mirror with suspicion before moving on. "How about you tell me something about you."

Regina raised a brow. "What do you want to know?"

"Henry mentioned that you and Emma are both his moms when we found you. How about you tell me how that happened."

Regina smiled as she continued to search the castle. "After living under the curse for fifteen years I'd begun to feel as if I were going crazy. Everything was the same and the only reason people were nice to me was because it was my curse and they didn't really have a choice. I hadn't been there for very long when I realized that I desperately wanted something real. The curse was supposed to make me happy, but it only made me miserable." She turned to walk up a flight of stairs.

"So after fifteen years I decided I wanted a child. I couldn't give birth to one because time stood still and even if I were to get pregnant…well the baby would never grow. That is when I went to Mr. Gold aka Rumple to check into adoption." She stopped for a minute. "You know I still can't figure out how he knew…how he broke the curse on himself, but he had to know by then…why else would he make sure I got the baby of the savior?" She shook her head. "Anyway it took several years to find a baby, or so I thought then…turns out I was just waiting for Henry. I have no doubt in my mind I was meant to be his mother." She laughed "You know I have no idea now if it was even legal, but finally he brought me my baby boy. I think I wanted him so much that I never questioned…I never thought to ask how he'd gotten him into the town. When I looked down into that sweet face I knew that I would love him for the rest of my life."

Robin smiled as they entered into one of the tower rooms. "Things were great for several years. Then when he was nine he began questioning some things. It started with questions about who his father was. It was then I decided to sit him down and tell him about the adoption. He actually took it quite well. He hugged me and told me that it didn't matter if he grew in me, that I would always be his mom." A shadow crossed her face. "A few months after that is when he began pulling away from me. I thought at the time that it was because of the adoption. Maybe a delayed reaction…so I put him in therapy. It wasn't until he ran away to find Emma and she brought him back that I found out about that damn book and he now knew that I was the Evil Queen. He was so angry with me. I was devastated because here was the only person in the world who mattered to me and he was telling me I wasn't his mom…that _she_ was."

"I did a lot of things I'm not proud of, ultimately though once the curse was broken I realized the only thing in the world I cared about was being worthy of my little boy." She gave a humorless laugh. "I certainly made some mistake there as well, but I hope I am making up for it now. I hope that I can have my little boy back again." She sighed as she ran her hands along another mirror. "I realize that Emma will always be in his life now." She rolled her eyes "And probably Neal too, but hopefully he will let me back in again. Hopefully he will let me be his mom."

"It seems to me he already is." Robin stated as he walked over to examine a spindle.

Regina smirked. "Yeah here…but once we get back I don't" she stopped in mid sentence when she turned. "Don't touch that!" She ran to him in a moment and he quickly withdrew his hand.

She snatched his hand into hers and examined it carefully.

"What's the matter?" He wanted to know.

"Sleeping curse! Remember?" She gestured to the spindle.

He gave her a light grin and put his hands on her waist. "I guess it's a good thing I have a true love to wake me up." He stated pulling her against him.

"We're not exactly in love yet." She stated.

He leaned in with a grin and placed a kiss to her lips. "But it's destiny."

She rolled her eyes. "Well I'm not willing to bet on it by you ending up in an eternal sleep." She told him.

He raised his brows. "So you're worried about me."

"Not in the slightest. I just don't want to tell Roland that you are going to be asleep forever because you were an idiot."

"You were worried about me." He stated again with a grin.

Regina rolled her eyes and began to walk away from him only to be stopped by his hand on her arm.

"You said yet." He told her.

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"You said we're not in love yet…which indicates that you think you will eventually fall for me." He said with a note of victory.

She scowled at him. "It indicates nothing of the sort. It simply meant that…" She trailed off trying to figure out what she had meant.

He smiled and dropped another kiss to her lips. "It means I'm growing on you."

She looked into his laughing eyes and gave him a small smile. "It means I like you."

He smiled back at her. "I like you too!"

They resumed their search of the tower this time with Regina keeping a more careful eye on the man. All she needed was for him to pick something up that would turn him into a frog or something.

She stood still for a moment when she came to a painting. She ran her hands along the frame and felt magic against her fingertips. It was of a ship. The Dawn Treader. She ran her hands over the boat. "From Narnia." she whispered.

"Did you find something?" He asked as he stepped up beside her.

"Maybe." She examined the painting closer. "There is a painting from Narnia that is rumored to be able to transport you between bodies of water in different worlds. I can feel it has magic, I'm just not sure how to activate it." She reached up and took the painting off the wall. "We need to get to Aurora and have her get in touch with the others. There may be some information on it in the Storybrook library. We need to see what we can find out."

Robin nodded and took the picture from her. "We will stop at their castle on the way back." He told her. "We probably need to stay the night here though. If we start first thing in the morning we can make their castle by mid afternoon."

She looked at him. " I think this is it. Our way back."

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Robin had gone hunting after they found the painting while Regina stayed back to find any information she could on it.

She glanced up when he walked back in with two rabbits. "Any luck?" He asked.

She shook her head and slammed the book shut. "Nothing."

"I guess we'll just have to leave it up to the others."

She looked over at him as he bent to stoke the fire and grinned. He really did offer her a fine view.

"I hope rabbit is ok. It's the only game I could find and I didn't want to leave you alone for very long."

"Rabbit is fine." She told him.

He turned to find her grinning at him. "What?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. Just appreciating the view."

He turned a little red, but managed to keep his composure. "Well I'm certainly glad to give you something to enjoy on this trip." He turned back to the fire to finish preparing it to cook the rabbits he'd just brought back. When he straightened he felt arms wrap around him for behind.

"I like looking at you." she confided and rested her face against his back.

He smiled at the feel of her and took one of her hands and brought it to his lips. "I guess we have something in common then because I like looking at you too."

She sighed in contentment. "I suppose I should let you get back to cooking."

He smiled and turned to her enveloping her into his arms. "I'm willing to deviate from schedule anytime you want to put your arms around me." He told her.

She rested her face against his chest and sighed once again. "I like this."

He placed a kiss to her hair. "Me too."

They couldn't be sure how long they stood there enjoying the feel of each other, but neither cared. They simply wanted to enjoy the moment before real life could intrude.

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Regina glanced once more at him before climbing into bed. "This is ridiculous." She told him. "You don't have to sleep in the same room as me. Nothing is going to happen."

"I didn't want to sleep in the same room with you…that was your suggestion." He answered her as he stretched out on the chase lounge in the bedroom.

"No you wanted to sleep on the floor outside my door." she rolled her eyes.

"We don't know who or what may show up here Regina. I'm not going to leave you unprotected. If it makes you uncomfortable we can go back to the original plan."

"I'm not uncomfortable." she told him. "I just don't see any reason why you should be. I know that thing isn't nearly as comfortable as a bed. You barely fit on it."

"I'm fine." He told her turning on his side.

She let out a breath. "If you insist on babysitting me tonight you can sleep on the bed." She grinned. "I promise to behave myself."

He grinned back at her. "I'm not sure I can trust _myself_ to behave." He answered.

She shook her head. "You are so different from the other men I've known. Most of them would jump at the chance to get in bed with me…hoping they might get lucky, but you…you stopped us when I threw myself at you last night and now you won't get into bed with me. Why are you so different?"

"Because I don't just want your body Regina, I want you." He sat up so he could look at her. "And I don't want to take a chance and mess this up before it even gets started."

She laid on her side and looked at him touched. "You know there has only been one other person in my life who has ever wanted to know me…really know me."

"Who was it?" he wanted to know.

She smiled and held out a hand. "Come over here and hold me and I'll tell you."

He smiled at her. "Like I'm gonna turn down that offer."

He walked to the bed and climbed under the covers with her. Once he was settled she rested her head against his chest and once again was soothed by the sound of his heartbeat.

"His name was Daniel and I loved him very much." She told him the story of her first love and how much he'd meant to her. She told him about the good times they'd had together and how he died.

"That was when my mother made me marry the king." She told him as he stroked her hair. "Last year a Doctor back in Storybrook brought Daniel back to life…but it wasn't him. He wasn't himself…he'd become a monster."

"What did you do?" He asked.

"I had to kill him." She sighed and a tear rolled down her cheek. "Before he died he told me that he wanted me to find love again."

He pulled his arms tighter around her. What must it have been like to have to kill the person you love? Even if it wasn't him anymore. How devastating must that have been to her? She really had gotten the shit end of life. "I'm so sorry Regina."

She smiled a little. "I think he would like you."

"Well from what you've described to me I think I would like him too."

She cuddled in closer enjoying the feeling of safety that being in his arms always brought. "Goodnight Robin."

He leaned up and pressed a kiss to her hair and whispered. "Goodnight."

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**A/N Hope you all enjoyed this one! Please leave a review. **

**Did you all enjoy the show last night? Look me up on Tumblr if you want to chat about it! I'm thequeenstolemyheart!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N Thanks to all who read, followed and reviewed. My internet is down at the moment. Damn satellite internet! But you wonderful people motivated me enough to stop at the library on the way home from work and post a chapter! I was sort of hurrying through the posting though so I will apologize if there are more mistakes then normal! **

**Hope you enjoy!**

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Robin woke to the feel of Regina running her hand over his chest. It was nice waking up with her like this. Somehow in the night the two of them had wrapped around each other and were now a tangle of limbs.

"Good Morning." he said softly as he brought his hand up to stroke her hair.

She looked up at him and smiled. "Hi."

"Did you sleep well?" He questioned and she grinned.

"I did." She answered. "You?"

"Best I've slept in years." He grinned at her.

"We should probably be getting up and on the road…if we want to get to Phillip and Aurora's." she told him.

"Can I have a kiss first?" He wanted to know.

"I suppose." She smiled and shifted up to place her lips against his.

He grinned when she pulled back. "I could get used to this." He told her.

She leaned in and placed one more kiss to his mouth before settling back down against his chest. "Me too."

He smiled and ran his hand along her back. "I thought we needed to get on the road?"

She hummed and wrapped her arms tighter around him. "Just a few more minutes."

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"Robin, Regina." Aurora said walking up to them. "We weren't expecting you two today." She glanced behind Regina. "Is Mulan with you? Or the kids?"

Regina smiled. "No the kids are actually with Mulan right now."

"We just returned from Maleficent's castle." Robin told her and touched Aurora's shoulder when her eyes grew wide with a small bit of fear. "We were looking for a portal, something that could take us back to Regina and Henry's world and we believe we found something." Robin held up the picture they had found in the castle.

"It's a painting that came from Narnia. We believe that it can transport us between bodies of water into different lands." Regina explained. "We were hoping you could get a message to Emma that we need her to research how it works. Perhaps Rumple could tell us something."

"I'm due to meet Snow and David tonight. I can ask then." Aurora told her as she studied the painting. "You know my father actually did some research on Narnia, it was a land he always had interest in. There may be something in the library."

"Would you mind if I had a look?" Regina wanted to know.

"Not at all, I'll take you there."

"Can I get you a drink?" Phillip asked as Robin watched the women walk away.

He turned and smiled at him. "Sure, thanks."

"So it's true then? You and Roland are going with them to this Storybrook?" Phillip asked.

Robin nodded. "Yes, It really would be best for Roland. There are no other children here for him to be around and…well I would like to go as well." He finished.

"You're developing feelings for Regina." Phillip observed. Robin only raised a brow and Phillip laughed. "Come on, I'm not blind. You can't take your eyes off of her."

Robin smiled. "I suppose I can't, she's just so damn beautiful."

Phillip nodded. "Do you think the two of you can be happy together?"

"I think it's possible. I know I want to try and even if I didn't I would still want to go. It's what's best for my son." Robin answered him.

"I've thought about that as well." Phillip replied. "Being here in this world, it's not really the best place for children is it?"

"Yeah I guess not." Robin said realizing where this conversation was going.

"What would you think about Aurora and I coming with you? I haven't actually talked to her yet. I was kinda wanting to find out if it was even a possibility first."

Robin winced inwardly. On one hand he understood Phillip's reasoning for wanting to go, hell it was the same reason he wanted to initially, but on the other he also understood that Mulan was going to try and start over. It would be hard for her to get over Aurora if she had to see her everyday of her life. "Yeah, I can talk to Regina and see…I don't know if there's a portal limit or something."

Phillip smiled at Robin. "Thanks. I do think Aurora will be much happier there. Especially if Mulan is going too. She would be pretty miserable without her only friend."

Robin simply nodded and Mulan would be pretty miserable seeing the woman she was in love with everyday and knowing that she couldn't have her.

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"So you really think you've found a way back?" Aurora asked.

Regina smiled as she looked through the shelves and pulled out books she thought may contain the information she was looking for. "I hope so."

Aurora sighed. "And you're all going? Mulan too?"

Regina nodded. "It looks that way."

"Oh." Aurora said as she followed Regina to the table. "How is she? She really doesn't come around much anymore." She smiled. "I miss her."

Regina looked up a the woman and nodded. "She's good, she keeps pretty busy."

Aurora nodded. "It's just that when we were trying to get Phillip back from the wraith I was with her everyday. I kinda got used to having her around. She's my best friend and I wish I could see her more. Especially if she's going to this new land. I mean if she goes will I ever see her again?"

Regina opened her mouth to answer but then shook her head. "I suppose that is something you will have to ask her, but I can certainly tell her you would like to see her when I get back."

Aurora smiled. "Would you?"

Regina smiled and nodded. "Sure." She paused for a moment and studied the woman in front of her. "Aurora…Are you happy?"

Aurora looked up at Regina. "Of course I'm happy. I married my true love and we're having a baby." she shook her head. "Why wouldn't I be happy?"

Regina smiled and shook her head. "No reason. I was just curious."

Aurora creased her brow and studied Regina. "Is your world like this one?"

Regina shook her head as she looked through a book. "Not really."

"What's different about it?" Aurora wanted to know.

"Well, a lot of things." Regina sighed. "Instead of kingdoms we have countries and most of the countries are ran by an elected government instead of a monarchy…although there are still some countries that have kings." She shrugged. "Ours doesn't which I very much prefer to here. The people get to chose the person they want to run their countries, cities and towns. It's a much better system then people being born into it and being horrible at what they do."

When Aurora's brow creased at this Regina tried to think of a way to explain it better. "When I was Queen Leopold knew little about how to make his kingdom prosper. He fooled himself into believing that because he prospered the kingdom did, but nothing could have been farther from the truth. Many of the people in the kingdom were suffering, but he didn't see it. It's hard to see things like that when you are sitting in a palace and have a full belly every night."

She sighed and set one of the books aside, "But because I hated living in the palace so much I used to dress as a commoner and sneak out. When I was in the villages I saw that there were people suffering. At one point I tried to talk to Leopold about it, but he just patted me on the head like the good little trophy wife I was and told me it wasn't my job to worry over matters of the kingdom."

She heard the venom in her own voice when she talked of her husband and shook her head. "In any case, the kingdom had no say in whether or not Leopold continued to run things because he was the king. All powerful…no one questions him. In our world if someone wasn't doing a good job running things then the people would have a choice to vote them out." She looked back into Aurora's eyes. "Like I said, it's a better system…not perfect, but nothing ever is."

"After you…um…After your husband died did you do anything for these people you saw?" Aurora asked.

"I made some changes, attempted to make the kingdom more financially stable. We certainly didn't need to make marriage contracts with other kingdoms to survive as most did." when Aurora only looked at her questioningly Regina smiled. "I realize I had a reputation and much of it was well earned, but I will point out that I also had loyal followers, people who's lives were made better by my reign and people who were willing to give their lives not to see anyone in Leopold's family in charge again." She sighed "He wasn't a good king. He was a terrible leader. He loved to sit in his palace and spout off about only wanting the happiness of his people, but he didn't even care that there were people under his own roof who were miserable." She stopped and looked down. She'd shared to much. God she hated talking about this man. He infuriated her to no end even now. "There is only one thing on the planet that would make me come back to this world to live and that is if my son were to come here to stay. The world we live in is much better…not to mention we have electricity."

"Electricity?" Aurora asked.

Regina smiled. "It's a rather lovely discovery that makes life much more comfortable."

"I should maybe like to see your world someday." Aurora stated.

"Yes well, that will never happen if we can't get this portal working." she told her. She went back to reading while Aurora sat silently. After several minutes of looking through the book Regina stood up with some excitement. "This is it !I think I've found something." she left the library with Aurora on her heels and found Robin and Phillip where she left them.

"I think I've found our way." She told Robin with a smile. He looked over her shoulder as she sat beside him with the book on the table. "It says here that the painting of the Dawn Treader was said to be a portal to other worlds…specifically bodies of water in other worlds. It says the portrait would always find its way to the ship itself."

"Meaning what?" Robin said in confusion. "The portrait can only take you to the body of water the ship is in? Is the Dawn Treader in Storybrook?"

Regina shook her head. "No, the ship itself is no longer in existence, but it says here that there were pieces left. People sought after them for centuries. It specifically mentions a piece of the bow of the ship." She showed him the diagram of the boat. "See how the forward hull if the ship is shaped like a dragon? The book mentions this piece specifically."

"Wouldn't that only benefit you if the part of the ship were in Storybrook?" Phillip asked.

Regina nodded. "Yes, but I believe that it could be." She looked up to Aurora. "Rumple was obsessed for centuries with getting to the land without magic. If this piece of the ship was said to have portal properties he would have tried to find it. He would have done everything he could to get his hands on it in hopes of finding a way to his son. He most likely tried to get this painting too, but Maleficent managed to keep it hidden from him."

"So you need to find out if Rumple has the other piece?" Aurora asked.

Regina nodded. "If he does then when it is placed in a body of water it will create a portal between this painting and the ship."

"So I guess I know what I'm asking tonight." Aurora stated.

Regina nodded. "If I'm right and Rumple has it, we could be home by the end of the week."

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Robin and Regina walked back into Rumple's castle a little after midnight. Regina had talked him into a late night ride home so she could see her son. Robin had missed Roland as well so he wasn't all that hard to convince. They walked through the hallway and Robin took her hand. Regina looked up at him at the simple gesture. It was nice to have someone that simply wants to hold her hand. Just that simple contact made her heart leap.

"So here we are…back at the castle after having a completely uneventful trip." she grinned up at him. "No ogres, no thieves, no dragons coming out of the dark. I thought you said you were needed for my protection." she teased.

He gave her a wry smile. "The only reason none of those things came after you was because they knew I was with you and I would kick ass if anything attempted to hurt you." He told her.

"Mmmhmm." She grinned. "I imagine those ogres are absolutely terrified of you."

"They most certainly are." He turned her into his arms and she rested her hands on his shoulders. "Look at it this way. If I hadn't come along you would have been deprived of my winning personality and amazing good looks."

Regina lifted an eyebrow. "The good looks certainly were a bonus."

He grinned. "Nothing about my personality huh?"

She laughed. "I suppose you can be amusing when you want to be."

He leaned down and brushed her lips with his. Regina brought her hands up behind his head and pulled him into her. She parted her lips in invitation, and Robin eagerly explored her mouth with his. Kissing her was like nothing he'd experienced before.

Regina moaned softly when he deepened the kiss. Every time he kissed her she completely lost all sense of everything else. It just became him and her. Just the two of them in their own little cocoon together.

He pulled back and rested his forehead against hers as they both regained their breath. "I don't think I will ever get tired of doing that." He told her.

She smiled. "We are quite good at it aren't we?"

He gave a small laugh. "We are indeed."

He ran his hands gently along her back. "Are you ready to see the boys?"

She smiled. "Absolutely."

They entered Roland's room where they found him and Henry sharing the large king size bed. Regina immediately made her way to Henry's side and just looked at him. She leaned in and placed a kiss to his head and whispered. "I love you so much sweetheart."

Henry shifted a little and opened his eyes. "Mom!" he exclaimed rousing the little boy beside him then threw himself at Regina. "Mom I missed you so much! I was so worried that an ogre might try to get you or something." Regina sent Robin a look to which he shrugged. He'd sat down on the bed beside his son who'd climbed into his lap.

Regina stroked Henry's hair as he hugged her savoring the feel of her son in her arms. "Nope, no ogres or any other danger." She told him. "And we think we found something." Regina smiled when he pulled back to look at her. "At least on our end. Aurora got in touch with the others to see if they have what we need to create the portal on their side. She is going to come here two days from now and let us know what they find."

"So we might actually get to go home?" Henry asked.

Regina smiled at him. "I hope so."

"Mom this is great!" Regina smiled when Henry once again threw his arms around her.

"It is but for right now you two need to get back to sleep. We'll talk some more in the morning."

Henry pulled back from her. "Will you stay with us tonight?

Regina would never turn down the opportunity to hold her baby in her arms. "Of course I will." she smiled and laid down on her side beside Henry. He cuddled into her chest.

Robin grinned at the sight of them and the smile of contentment on Regina's face. It was so obvious how much she loved her little boy. He tucked Roland back under the covers. "Good night you three, sweet dreams."

"Daddy you stay too." Roland asked.

Robin looked at Regina who gave a soft smile. He climbed into bed next to his son and threw his arm around him. Just before drifting off to sleep he found Regina's hand and laced their fingers together. The last thing he saw before sleep took him was her smile.

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**So I think making a trip to the library warrants some reviews huh? **

**Thanks again for all of your kind words about this story. You all are so inspiring to me! Seriously you're the best! My evening is free and my internet maybe down, but that doesn't mean I can't go home and write some more! I'm so excited about the trip back to Storybrook!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Once again thank you all for being so awesome! I am so happy every time a new review comes in! I'm glad you are all still enjoying this story!**

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Regina sat in silence and watched the fire. Robin had taken the boys to play outside and Mulan had left before anyone else had woken this morning. As much as the woman loved Robin and Roland she also seemed to be fond of her alone time. It probably stemmed from being on her own for so long.

She sat mesmerized by the flames as a million different thoughts flew through her head at one time.

They may have found a way home. This was bittersweet for Regina. On one hand she hated the Enchanted Forest. She'd done everything she could to get out of here the first time, but this time…this time it had been pleasant. More then pleasant actually, it had been almost blissful. Here she'd been able to be herself again or at least some version of herself. After Daniel died Regina stopped showing her true self to people, instead hiding behind a mask of hatred and anger. Her once sweet and gentle nature had been overtaken by the hard and bitter woman that was known as The Evil Queen.

It was how most people knew her, but not here. Not these people. Here she was able to be Regina. Certainly not as naive as she once was, but at least a shadow of her former self.

No matter how many times she told people that the woman who'd rode horses through the fields with Daniel was dead, there was still a small part of her that still resided in Regina. That part is the part that her new found friends in this place brought out in her.

Here people were willing to be believe in her because they'd never known her as anything different. Here she could be who she really wanted to be. No one judged her, no one looked at her with suspicion.

It was true she missed her home in Storybrook. She'd really grown to love the house she lived in, especially once she was able to fill it with happy memories of Henry's childhood. Her son had made that house into a home and it was because of him that she would always see it as the place she belonged. In all honestly it was the only place she'd ever felt was home.

But here she'd made a friend in Mulan. She'd also fallen hard for the sweet little four year old boy that cuddled up to her and asked for lullabies and stories. Then there was Robin.

For the first time in her life since Daniel died she felt there was actually a chance that she could be happy with someone else. She honestly felt like there was a chance she really could love and be loved again.

The thought was terrifying.

What would happen when they all got back to Storybrook. Would the people of the town who hated her poison Robin, Roland and Mulan against her? Or even worse would Henry turn against her again? Would he once again leave her to go back to his biological family? Would Emma once again become his favorite parent and she go back to only get snippets of time with him? She didn't think she would be able to live through that. Not again.

Here things were good with him. He showed her love and affection, but then again here she was the only parent he had. What happened when they got back to Storybrook and she once again had Emma and Neal to contend with. Here she was finally able to relax and be herself. They could have the relationship they'd had with each other for so many blissful years before he'd figured out who she was. Once they were back home would she transform back into the uptight woman that desperately wanted the love of her little boy?

Then there was the issue of custody. Would the Charming's try to keep him from her again only allowing her to see him when they decided she'd been "good" enough to earn a visit?

Shit! Maybe going back was a terrible mistake.

"You know you're thinking so hard I'm surprised I can't hear your thoughts."

Regina was snapped out of her line of thought by Robin's voice. "I was just thinking about home." she told him.

"Second thoughts?" Robin asked when he saw the worry etched on her face.

Regina shook her head as he walked over to sit beside her. "I don't know…I guess I'm just nervous that everything is going to change."

Robin put his arm across the back of the couch and began playing with her hair. "Well we are going to a whole new world…at least Roland, Mulan and I are so I would say things are going to change a little."

Regina looked at him. "You know, you being involved with me…in any capacity even just as friends, it isn't going to make you very popular."

Robin laughed. "I'm pretty sure I stopped caring about popularity when I decided to start stealing from the neighbors I grew up around my whole life. Talk about being unpopular."

Regina gave half a smile. "I'm serious Robin, I don't think you realize how much people hate me there. I had originally thought to invite you and Roland to stay with us…Mulan too. I thought she could stay in the basement. She would have her own space and privacy down there until she found a place of her own, but now I'm thinking that maybe it wouldn't be the best idea. Perhaps it would be better for all of you to stay somewhere else."

Robin lifted a brow. "Do I get a say in this?"

Regina sighed. "Of course you get a say, I just want to make sure you realize.."

She was cut off mid sentence by his lips on hers. When he pulled back he smiled at her. "There is no place I would rather be then close to you."

Regina smiled. "I really wouldn't blame you if you wanted to keep your distance from me at first."

Robin shook his head. "What kind of a friend would that make me?"

Regina smiled and leaned into him a little. "Friend?"

He smirked "Well I was going to say soul mate or true love, but you get jumpy when I use those words."

Regina smiled and leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. "Maybe not quite as jumpy as it made me a few days ago."

He smiled and brought his arm around her and she rested her head against his shoulder. "Good to know." He once again began to stroke her hair. "Is that all that's bothering you?

She shook her head lightly. "I'm afraid what's going to happen with Henry once we're back."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"Before Neverland he was living with Emma and the Charming's and I really didn't get to see him, unless of course they decided I had been a good girl. The only time I had a chance to see my son was from a distance…when he was playing in the park or at Granny's." She sighed. "And honestly Henry didn't seem to mind not seeing me all that much." She wrapped her arm around his waist causing him to tighten his hold. "What if things go back to the way they were before?"

"I don't know why you would think they would Regina. I mean it's obvious how much that boy loves you and how much you love him." Robin told her.

"Yes…here, where there is no one constantly reminding him who I once was, but there…he is going to have Snow and Charming in his ear talking about how awful I am. Not to mention half the town as well." she shook her head a little. "Here he is allowed to love me."

"Hey." Robin tipped her face up to his. "From what I have seen that boy loves you a lot Regina. A bunch of people saying nasty things about you isn't likely to change that. He seems like he can be pretty stubborn and he made it pretty clear that first night that we found you that you are _not_ The Evil Queen any more."

She smiled. "He is stubborn and you may be right, but what if him wanting to see me isn't enough. What if they try to keep him from me anyway because they say it's what's best for him? What if what he wants doesn't matter?"

He ran his hand up and down her back. "Then we will fight them."

She looked up into his face. "We?"

He dropped a quick kiss to her forehead. "Yes. We. How many times do I have to tell you you're not alone anymore before you believe me?"

She leaned up and kissed him before laying her head back against his shoulder. "Emma isn't so bad you know. As long as she doesn't have her insufferable parents whispering nonsense into her ear. If it were only up to her I think we could work it out, It's the two idiots who are really the problem."

"Then you and Emma work it out without the two idiots getting involved." He stated as if it were that simple.

"Ha! You obviously don't know the Charming's! They stick their noses into everything. There can't be one thing they are not involved in! Not to mention that they have practically declared themselves the rulers of Storybrook. Not that they know anything about running a town in that world anyway! Given six months Storybrook will probably go bankrupt!" She fumed.

"Regina I'm not going to let them keep Henry from you." He kissed her hair. "I promise we will figure it all out."

She sighed against his shoulder. "I hope so."

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After having dinner the five of them sat around the great room each doing different things. Regina looked up from her book and smiled over at Henry and Roland as they watched Robin telling them an animated story. She could stay like this forever. With these people around her laughing at Robin's stories. She hoped they had the chance to be this happy once they were back.

She glanced up as Mulan sat down beside her.

"You look like you're someplace else." Mulan stated.

Regina smiled. "I'm just wondering what it's going to be like when we all get to Storybrook." She turned to look at Mulan. "Speaking of Storybrook, we stopped at Phillip and Aurora's castle yesterday. Phillip asked Robin if they might be able to come home with us. He's concerned that the baby won't have anyone here that is the same age, that he or she could possibly be friends with…basically the same reason that Robin wanted to bring Roland."

Mulan nodded and looked into the fire. "I suppose I should have anticipated that."

Regina frowned as she looked at the only person who had offered her friendship in…well…ever. "We haven't given them an answer yet."

Mulan raised a brow and looked at Regina. "So…it's up to me?" she laughed a little. "That would be pretty selfish of me wouldn't it? To not allow them to come because I can't handle seeing the woman I love everyday."

Regina sighed. "I wanted to ask you if you would like to stay with us at my house." she smiled. "Robin has already made up his mind that it is where he wants to be. There is plenty of room. Robin and Roland can take the two guest bedrooms upstairs. There is another in the basement that you would be welcome to. You would pretty much have your own space down there…with the possible exception of the boys bugging you to come down to the game room."

Mulan sighed. "I wouldn't want to be in the way." She looked up to Robin and the boys. "It's pretty obvious that you and Robin have feelings for each other. I wouldn't want to intrude."

"Mulan you wouldn't be intruding. You're Robin's family and I know that he and Roland would love having you close to them. Plus if Phillip and Aurora do come then you won't have to see them everyday if you don't want to. I figure they will probably stay at the Inn behind Granny's as that's pretty much the only place in town. If you stayed there too you would end up running into them everyday of your life. That might make getting over her difficult"

Mulan sighed. "You're sure…I wouldn't be in the way."

Regina smiled. "Of course I'm sure, but I should probably warn you as I did Robin that associating yourself with me isn't going to make you very popular…pretty much everyone there hates me. "

The other woman laughed. "I've actually never been popular so I guess nothing will change then." She grinned. "I suppose I will stay with you. Only until I can get my own place somewhere." She narrowed her eyes at Regina. "Speaking of you and Robin…"

Regina grinned. "Where we?"

Mulan smiled. "Regina…" she sighed. "Like you said Robin and I are family and I care about him a lot…and he cares about you a lot…" She let out a breath. "Just be careful with him. I don't want him to get hurt. He really is a great guy."

Regina smiled softly. "Yes he is."

"I just don't want to see him heart broken."

Regina looked down. "That's the last thing I would ever want to do. I promise to do my best. And to be as careful as I can be…I'm not very good at all this."

Mulan nodded appreciating the fact that Regina didn't make an empty promise. "Your best is all you can do." they both glanced up when Henry walked over to them.

"Hey Mom, could I talk to you for a minute?" He asked.

Regina smiled at her son. "Of course sweetheart."

Mulan stood. "I think I'm ready to turn in anyway."

Henry sat down where Mulan had been and tuned to his Mom. "Mom…" He started. "When we get home I was just wondering…" He paused and looked up at her. "Do you think it would be ok if I moved back home with you?"

Regina felt her breath catch at his question. She instantly felt her eyes begin to tear up. "You want to live with me again?"

Henry nodded. "I really missed you when I wasn't with you. I didn't say anything because I was still so angry, but I missed you so much Mom. There were so many times that I wished you were there with me. Now that we've been together here I don't want to go back to the way it was before." He looked her in the eyes. "I want you back."

Regina ignored the tears that were falling down her face and took her sons face in her hands. "There is nothing I want more then that Henry." she leaned in and kissed his cheek and pulled back to smile brilliantly at him. "You have just made me the happiest woman in the whole world."

Henry grinned and moved to put his arms around her. "I would still want to see Emma and Neal, maybe visit with them and spend the night, but I want to live with you Mom. I want to come home." He rested his head against her chest. "I love you."

Regina laughed even as she sobbed. "I love you too baby. More then anything in this world."

Henry sighed in contentment as he allowed himself to be held by his mother. Even though he was twelve years old and wasn't supposed to like being cuddled he secretly still loved it. His mom had always made him feel safe and loved. He'd missed that in his time away from her and he never wanted to be away from her again.

Regina looked up from her son and caught Robin's eye. His heart caught in his chest when she sent him a full smile. God he loved her smile.

Regina turned her head and rested it against her sons and for once didn't push aside the hope she felt rising in her.

Perhaps it was possible. Perhaps she really could be happy again.

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**Hope you enjoyed! Next stop Storybrook!**

**I may post the next chapter on Sunday instead of Monday since there is no show. It really stinks we have to wait another week. :( I am so ready for Saving Henry! The Regina/Baby Henry pics are giving me major feels! I need this show now!**

******We are at 186 reviews which is unbelievable to me! 200th reviewer will get a prompt for a one shot! My last prompt will be featured in this story a few chapters down the line. I also received another for a Outlaw Queen Thanksgiving with the whole gang. I will try to get that posted before Thanksgiving!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Here you go on Sunday night as promised! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

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She was nervous. They were out of options at this point. If this didn't work she wasn't sure that anything else would, but if it did work they would be back in Storybrook within the hour.

Phillip and Aurora had returned the night before with the news that the group in Storybrook had in fact found the piece of the ship in Rumple's shop. All that needed to be done on their side was to place it into a body of water. After Aurora had gone back to sleep to talk with Snow and Charming the location had been decided. It would be placed into a small lake in the woods. It was really the only option other then the ocean which seemed like a dangerous plan considering no one could be sure where the portal would actually come up, not to mention the possibility of getting caught up in the waves.

So they had decided on the lake where right at this moment the group in Storybrook were waiting with blankets and dry clothing for each of them.

The water would no doubt be freezing.

She looked over to Robin who gave her an encouraging smile. The entire group was gathered in the great room of Rumple's castle, none of them really knowing what to expect.

Phillip and Aurora had decided to accompany them. Regina agreed that it was best for their unborn child to grow up around children, but it didn't change the fact that she felt for her new friend Mulan and that she would now have to deal with seeing the woman she loved with someone else everyday. Storybrook was not that big of a place and it never failed that you would very often run into the very person you wished to avoid.

Regina looked at her son who smiled up at her. He had such faith that she would be able to make this happen. She didn't want to disappoint him.

The book that she'd found the information on the painting in didn't explain how this particular portal worked. Regina bit her lip as she placed the painting against the wall.

"Ok, once the painting is activated I would suggest you hold on to someone else. I can't be sure how this works, but I am pretty certain that we will come up in the water." she looked around the room. "Everyone can swim right?"

Everyone in the room nodded, but Roland who was being held by his father. He leaned in towards Regina's ear. "I'm still learning." He told her.

She turned to him and smiled. "That is why your father will have a hold of you the whole time."

He nodded his head. "Ok."

Regina turned back to the others. "There will be people waiting for us on the other side, and I'm sure heroes that they are they will be waiting for us to surface and ready to pull us out." she smiled down at her son once again already knowing that his grandfather would be one of them. "But I would still suggest that everyone take off your shoes. It will make it easier to swim if we need to."

Everyone silently agreed and all bent to remove the shoes from their feet. When they had all finished Regina let out a breath. "Ok. Here goes." she stopped before moving to touch the painting. She looked back at Roland. "You can hold your breath right?" She was worried most about him. She knew that Robin would hold onto him for dear life, but she was afraid something could still go wrong. He was still so young.

Roland smiled and nodded. "I do it all the time when I go swimming in the stream. I like going under water. I'm not afraid."

Regina smiled at him. She hoped this little adventure wouldn't change that. She would hate to cause the boy to be afraid of water for life.

Without another word she turned to the painting and touched it gently. Her magic slowly trickled into the painting. They all watched with fascination when the waves in the picture began to move. The boat teetered up and down in the water and that was when water began to pour out of the painting.

Regina felt a small amount of panic begin to rise up. She'd been expecting a portal that you jump into, just like the others she'd been through. She pushed aside her panic and moved to wrap an arm around her son. She looked up to Robin as the room quickly filled with water. He took her hand in his as the water continuously crept up. She picked Henry up to hold him higher above the water. The fact that it was nearly shoulder deep now made her effort at hoisting her son easy. She took a deep breath as the water neared her mouth and the last thing she heard before being taken completely under was Robin tell Roland to hold his breath.

When the water covered her head she felt disoriented for a moment. She kept her grip on Henry and Robin's hand and kicked furiously to the surface. She floated for a moment trying to figure out which way was up before she felt a tug on her hand. She surfaced in the icy cold water and gasped for air, feeling relief when she heard her son do the same. She looked around as she saw the others floating in the water themselves. She'd been right there were several people from Storybrook who had jumped in to help them swim to shore. She would have smirked at the fact that Charming was right there in the middle of them as she'd expected, but instead of the smirk she wanted to form her teeth chattered. She felt the pull on her hand as Robin was pulling her towards shore. She still hadn't let go of Henry.

She saw Neal swimming towards them and wanted to shout at the man when he told her he could take Henry. She wasn't ready to let him go yet. She wanted to get him to the shore and make sure for herself that he was ok, but instead of protesting like she wanted to do she allowed him to take him. With her arm free she was able to swim faster towards the bank.

Once they were out of the water there were people all around them. They were pressing hot chocolate into hands and wrapping every one in blankets. She looked over to see Belle tending to Robin and Roland so she turned her attention on making sure her son was ok. She ran to Henry who was currently being hugged by both of his biological parents. The catch was still there…the fear that he would leave her and go back to them. She fought it. She had to trust that her son loved her enough to not abandon her. She had to believe him when he told her he loved her and wanted to live with her again.

When she reached them Henry looked up and saw her and a huge grin spread across his face before he launched himself at her. "Mom we made it!"

She smiled and felt her stomach settle when he put his arms around her. "We did!"

He pulled back when Charming walked up and turned to wrap his arms around his waist. "Grandpa!"

Regina watched as her son was reunited with his insufferable grandparents when she felt a blanket being placed around her shoulders. She looked over to find Emma smiling at her.

"You look like you're freezing." She explained.

"I am." Regina said willing her teeth not to chatter.

"We brought dry clothes for you. I went and picked them up from your house myself. We brought several different sizes of stuff for everyone else. We weren't really sure what everyone would take, but I knew that if I didn't have your own person wardrobe here waiting for you I would never hear the end of it."

Regina simply stared at her. "You raided my closet." She looked at Emma with her face showing no emotion.

"Uh uh…you're not allowed to bitch at me. You know you want your own clothes. By the way…you're closet is like a freaking Nordstrom's. Do you think you have enough shoes?"

"A woman never has enough shoes." The corners of Regina's mouth had begun to turn up.

She felt a wave of shock hit her when Emma suddenly and without warning wrapped her arms around her. "Thank you Regina…thank you for saving our son in Neverland and thank you for getting him back here safely."

Regina stood still as Emma hugged her. "You're welcome." After a moment she brought her hand up to the other woman's back.

They stood like that for another moment until Regina shivered and Emma finally pulled back. "You need to get out of those wet clothes before you catch your death." She gestured to the cabin that stood by the lake. "Your clothes are inside, it's good an warm in there too. We've had a fire going for a little while. Once you guys are dry we can head back to Granny's. She's cooked a welcome home/welcome to Storybrook dinner for all of you."

"She has?" Regina asked with some surprise.

"Yep, go on and get changed and we'll head over.

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She couldn't say how good it felt to be in her own clothes again. The undergarments of this world were much better then the ones in the Enchanted Forest. Not to mention the clothes themselves.

Emma was right the cabin was warm but she still felt chilled to the bone. She quickly pulled on a pair of black pants and the purple sweater before wrapping herself into the coat that Emma had brought for her. She walked to the fire and stood in front of it to get the heat into her body faster.

She'd had a cup of hot chocolate pressed into her hands by Ruby and although it wasn't her normal choice Regina moaned in pleasure as the sweet warm liquid made it's way down her throat.

Roland and Henry had apparently warmed up pretty quickly. Henry was telling Emma the story of how they'd ended up in the Enchanted Forest while Roland was running around the cabin trying to see everything at once.

She jumped a little when she felt arms wrap around her from behind, but leaned back into the warmth they offered her. "It seems my son is ready to learn everything he can about your world." Robin chuckled.

"As much as he loved Henry's Ipod I can't wait to see his reaction to the Xbox." Regina grinned and turned to face him so she could wrap her arms around him. She lifted a brow when she saw him in jeans and a button up flannel shirt. "The clothing of this world suits you." She told him as she cuddled into his embrace.

"Thank you." He grinned and rubbed along her back in an attempt to warm her.

"Dad! Regina!" They heard Roland call out as he ran over to them. "Look what I found!" He held up a remote and looked at it with wide eyes. "What's it do Regina?" The boy wanted to know.

Regina couldn't help but laugh at his fascination with the object. She bent down and took it from him. "You see that box over there?" She asked and he nodded. "Watch" She told him as she pressed the power button and the TV came to life.

Roland looked back at her with wide eyes. "How did those people get in there? Is it magic?"

Regina laughed. "Nope. It's called technology." She pulled him into her side and gave him a hug.

"Technoholageeee" he butchered the word causing Regina to laugh and scoop him up into her arms.

They all looked over when Emma walked their way. "Who's hungry?" She asked.

"Me! I'm hungry!" Roland told her from Regina's arms.

"Well it's a good thing because Granny has a feast waiting for us if you're all ready." Emma smiled at the boy. "And my I ask what your name is?"

"I'm Roland and I'm 4." He told her and pointed to Robin. "That's my dad, and this is Regina." he wrapped his arm around Regina's neck.

"Hi Roland, I'm Emma it's very nice to meet you." She held out her hand and Roland shook it and grinned.

He turned to look at Regina. "I'm gonna go find Henry."

She nodded and set him down. She smiled at Emma. "I am rather hungry. The food in the Enchanted Forest just isn't what it once was."

"Is that your subtle way of insulting my cooking?" Robin wanted to know.

"Not at all dear. As a matter of fact I think you would be quite a good cook if you had more to work with." She grinned at him.

"I heard a rumor about fried chicken." Emma told her.

Regina nearly moaned and turned to Robin. "You're in for a treat. The only person who can do fried chicken better then me is Granny."

Emma snorted. "You mean you are actually admitting that someone can cook something better then you?"

"I didn't say she could cook _everything_ better then me. My lasagna is still far superior to hers." Regina told her.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Ok I'm gonna get Henry rounded up and we'll all head over."

Regina nodded as Emma walked away to find Henry. Robin took her hand as they walked to the other side of the room to collect Roland who was showing Mulan the remote and pointing to the TV. Robin leaned into her ear. "Seriously, how do they get the people in there?"

Regina couldn't help looking up at him and grinning. Watching them discover this world would be entertaining.

She once again saw Belle, this time talking with Phillip and Aurora. The site of Belle had her wondering about Rumple. As much as she couldn't stand the man he had managed to make sure her son was safe. It would be just like him not to come to their homecoming simply to be an ass.

When Emma walked back up with Henry Regina asked her. "Is Rumple still at his shop? Despite how intolerable he can be I do have to admit he did a nice job keeping Henry safe."

Emma who had her arm thrown around Henry's shoulder frowned.

Henry looked up at her. "Emma?"

Emma cleared her throat. "Umm…well, Henry." She looked up at Regina before glancing back down to her son. "You know that prophesy that saving you would destroy him?" Henry nodded even as Regina gripped Robin's hand a bit tighter. "He had to make a sacrifice in order to keep Pan on the island."

"He's dead?" Regina asked.

Emma shook her head. "No, but he can never leave."

Henry looked up at Emma. "But we can't just leave him there! Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell Aurora when she met with you?"

Emma frowned at Henry. "Henry you were stuck in another world. We didn't want you to find out that way." Emma looked up at Regina. "Either of you."

Regina blinked at this news. It's true there was no love lost between her and Rumple and they spent more time fighting then anything else, but to never see him again. That wasn't something she ever thought she would have to face. He'd given up his own happiness to save Henry. Knowing what she'd known previously about the man and his need for self preservation at all costs it was hard for her to wrap her mind around it.

She wrapped her arms around Henry when he moved from Emma to her. "Mom this is all my fault. If I hadn't been in Neverland this wouldn't have happened."

Regina stroked her son's hair. "Sweetheart you didn't choose to go there, Rumple did this so you could be safe and happy."

Henry pressed his face into her. "But what about him?"

Regina simply kissed him on the head. She didn't have an answer.

XXXXXXXX

She sat back as she watched everyone eating their food. It had been delicious and as far as Regina was concerned she never wanted to travel between worlds again. The food here alone was worth staying forever.

She glanced over at Robin who looked unbelievably bored as he'd been roped into a conversation with Snow. She grinned a little. She certainly knew that feeling.

Henry was talking with Neal and Emma. He was having a rough time with Rumple being stuck in Neverland. They would have to keep a close eye on him. Knowing her son the hero complex that he seemed to have inherited from his completely dense grandfather David would soon kick in and he would wind up trying to find a way to save Rumple. What ever he would come up with would inevitably put him in more danger.

Roland was off discovering the video games that sat around the restaurant. She sat alone for the moment, but this time she didn't mind as she was lost in her own thoughts. Rumple had actually sacrificed his happiness for someone else. She hadn't known this would be possible. The man had always been so incredibly selfish. It was the only way she'd ever known him to be.

She looked up and saw Belle sitting alone at a table in the back. Stepping out of her normal comfort zone she got up and walked back to her. When she walked up to the table Belle looked up.

"May I?" Regina asked.

Belle looked at her with some suspicion but shook her head.

"I'm surprised to see you here." Regina said as she sat down. "I figured you would be off trying to figure out a way to get to Rumple."

Belle shrugged. "He destroyed all ways to get to the island so I will never be able to go there. He wrote me a letter that if I ever came my life would be in terrible danger so he was destroying all portals to the island."

Regina nodded. Even as she felt a pang inside her somewhere for the man who had once been her mentor she also couldn't help feel a sense of relief that Henry would never again be able to go there. "I'm sorry, that you lost him."

Belle looked up at Regina with some surprise and Regina shrugged. "We didn't exactly love each other, but we didn't exactly hate each other either. We had a very complicated relationship."

Belle nodded. "He did care about you I think…I'm pretty sure that's why he never killed you."

Regina nodded. "It's why I never killed him as well."

Belle shook her head. "This is an odd conversation."

Regina gave her a small grin. "I've had some of those lately."

"So I see you met Robin and Mulan while you were away." Belle observed. "You seem to get along with them well enough."

Regina nodded. "Do you know them?"

Belle laughed. "I met Robin briefly when he was being held prisoner by Rumple." She sighed. "Mulan and I met on a quest once. She was the first person to ever believe in me…at least in my ability to do something on my own."

Regina smiled thinking about her new friend. "She's a pretty great person…" She gave a smirk "And that's coming from me and I don't like anyone."

Belle laughed and shook her head. "I'm glad you all made it back. I know Rumple would be happy."

Regina smiled a little. "I think he might."

Belle smiled back. "I think I'm going to head home. I'm not really feeling in the party mood."

Regina nodded in understanding but said nothing else as Belle stood and walked away. She blinked when Robin slid into the booth that Belle had just vacated. "Wow, does that woman ever stop talking about herself?"

Regina laughed out loud. "No." She answered simply appreciating that he wasn't one of Snow's biggest fans as everyone else seemed to be.

He took her hand in his. "I'm feeling pretty beat and I'm willing to bet Roland will be nodding off soon." He looked around and found Mulan who was talking with Aurora and looking like she desperately wanted to escape. "It looks like Mulan could use a break too."

She nodded and stood still holding his hand. When he stood she leaned in and placed a kiss to his mouth.

"What was that for?" He grinned.

She gave a wry smile. "For you thinking Snow White talks to much."

XXXXXXXX

They walked into the house all feeling completely exhausted. Regina let out a loud sigh. "It's so good to be home."

Robin carried Roland who's eyes were starting to droop but he was fighting sleep with everything he had. He was so afraid he was going to miss something.

"I think I would like to learn to drive one of your horseless carriages." Robin told her.

She leaned in and placed a kiss to his mouth. "Then I guess I will have to teach you."

"The way you light your homes is fascinating." Mulan said as she flipped the switch Regina used to turn the lights on.

Regina smiled. "It's called electricity and it is by far one of the best things about this world." She gestured to the basement. "Mulan I can show you your room first if you like."

Mulan nodded and they all followed her into the basement. After many new discoveries and some excitement over the larger box that you could see people in they finally arrived to Mulan's room. "We can take all of you tomorrow and pick out clothes for you."

It would be nearly a half an hour later before Regina, Roland and Robin left the room again. She'd shown them all the bathroom, and they'd all marveled at the indoor plumbing. She'd had to show Mulan how to turn the shower on and off and pointed out where she could find extra toiletries. By the time they were walking back upstairs all three had decided they would like this world.

Regina ushered Roland and Robin up the stairs and stopped by Henry's room to point it out to Roland. The boy excitedly ran around looking at everything there was to see. Henry had decided to stay the night with Emma since it had been so long since he'd seen her. Regina actually found herself not minding that her son would be with his blonde mother. She was finally starting to believe he would come back to her.

When she finally got Roland to leave Henry's room she showed him to the guest room he would be staying in. "I know it isn't nearly as cool as Henry's room, but how about we go tomorrow and you can pick out some paint and things you would like to have in here." Regina asked him.

Roland's eyes grew wide. "I can pick out what it's gonna look like?"

Regina nodded. "Sure you can. We can start looking at things tomorrow."

He smiled and wrapped his arms around Regina's neck. "I'm gonna like living here with you and Henry." He kissed her on the cheek.

"Right now I think it's time to get you into bed." Robin shook his head when Roland made puppy dog eyes at him. "Nope…sad face isn't gonna work, You will have plenty of time to explore this world when you wake up in the morning."

Regina picked him up and carried him to the bed. They both tucked him in under the covers and he held up his hands for a hug from Robin who leaned in and kissed his son. "Love you buddy."

"Love you too Dad!" Roland said.

Regina smiled when he turned to her holding up his arms for a hug and kiss. She obliged him. "I love you Regina." He told her as he wrapped his little arms around her neck.

Her heart melted and at that moment she would promise this little boy anything in the world. "I love you too sweetheart. Goodnight."

When they left the room Regina slapped Robin lightly on the arm. "You're so mean."

Robin's eyes widened. "What?" he wanted to know.

"Sad face totally would have worked on me." She simply stated.

He grinned. "I've finally become immune to it." he told her.

"Apparently, although I don't know how."

Robin grinned and leaned against the wall. "So I take it you are planning on having us here for a long period of time?"

Regina lifted a brow. "What gave you that idea."

Robin shrugged. "I don't know you are remodeling Roland's bedroom…that tells me you plan on keeping us around for while."

"You are certainly welcome to leave anytime you like, but Roland is staying." She stated with a smirk.

"Ah I see…so you'll take me as long as you get the cute little boy that comes with me as well." He lifted his hand to push her hair behind her ear.

"Something like that." She stepped a little closer to him.

He leaned in to place a gentle kiss to her lips. "So where is my room."

Regina took a breath in and gestured to the room next to Roland. "You can take this room if you like, or…" she paused.

"Or?" he asked.

She stepped in closer and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Or you could stay in my room with me."

Robin felt his heart pick up to the point that he thought it may just burst out of his chest and into her hand. He cleared his throat. "With you?" He repeated.

Regina smiled and moved her arms from his waist to around his neck. She pulled him down to meet her lips and when he did she lightly ran her tongue along his bottom lip, urging him to deepen the kiss. He parted his lips and allowed his tongue to explore her mouth. The moan that came from her at the deepening of the kiss shot straight to his groin. He pulled back to look into her eyes that had already clouded over with longing.

"Regina." He said her name breathlessly. "Are you sure?"

She smiled and once again pulled him back down to her lips. After once again kissing him with everything she had in her she pulled back again. "I am. I want to be with you Robin."

She pressed her body against him in invitation and he couldn't resist pulling her as close as possible.

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**Whose ready for some Outlaw Queen sexy times?**

**If you were wondering about the Dawn Treader portal I pulled it straight from the original book. I wanted to do a little something different then just a hole you jump in. I don't know…trying to keep it interesting.**

**To Guest reviewer The D.E.V.R.O.N the rating was changed to M because of the implications of rape in the 7****th**** chapter. Rape can be a pretty major trigger for some. Of course come next chapter the story will be rated M for a whole different reason! ;)**


	13. Chapter 13

**Smut…that is all I have to say about this one! :)**

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Regina sighed into Robin's mouth as she backed into her bedroom pulling him with her. She shut the door lightly behind her and smiled at him as he pulled her back into him once again making her system go haywire from his kiss.

She didn't part from his lips as she slid her hands between them and began unbuttoning the flannel shirt he wore. She pushed the shirt from his shoulders and he shrugged out of it letting it fall to the floor. She moved her hands to the hem of the t-shirt underneath and they pulled apart so she could pull it over his head.

She took a moment to admire the muscled chest beneath his shirt. She ran her hands over the smooth skin and relished the feel of him.

"You know" she said a bit breathless. "This will be the first time I've done this with someone who mattered."

It was true that in the last several weeks Robin had fallen for her, but now as he looked into her vulnerable dark eyes he knew there was no point in trying to deny it. He was completely in love with her.

"I'm honored to be the first Regina." He once again lowered his mouth to hers taking care to be gentle. He was sure her other experiences had most likely been lust driven and many times unpleasant. He wanted to make this special for her. He wanted to show her that she deserved to have someone take their time with her.

She deserved someone who would show her love.

He moved his hands to the bottom of her sweater and she immediately lifted her arms so he could pull it off of her. He looked down at her standing in just her pants and a black lacey bra. He looked her in the eyes as he moved his hands down to the clasp of her pants.

When he released the clasp he watched as her pants fell to the floor and he saw the lacey panties that matched her bra. As she stepped out of her pants he grinned slightly. "I think I like the undergarments of this world." He stated breathlessly causing her to laugh and wrap her arms around his neck kissing him again.

He held her tight against him. She stood on her tip toes as she explored his mouth with her own. His kisses simply made her weak in the knees.

She pulled back once again and worked at the button on his jeans. She pushed his jeans over his hips leaving him standing in a pair of boxer briefs. Regina's heart rate picked up at the sight of his obvious arousal.

He leaned into kiss her once again relishing the feel of her flesh against his. When he pulled back he ran his hands along her sides. "I would like to see more."

Regina nodded and moved her hands to the clasp of her bra behind her. When she released the hooks she allowed the bra to fall off of her shoulders.

Robin took a deep breath as he looked at her in front of him. He was sure he'd never in his life seen anything more magnificent then this woman.

"Regina, you are so beautiful." He told her as he stepped closer.

She smiled almost shyly as she moved her hands to her panties, but Robin took her hands in his before she could push them down. He brought them to his lips and kissed them.

"Let me." he whispered and Regina felt her breath catch as he got on his knees in front of her and eased her panties down her legs. When she stepped out of them he remained where he was and looked up at her. He ran his hands back up her legs and then over her bottom. He leaned in and placed a kiss to her stomach.

"You're perfect." he told her.

When he moved to stand up he gripped her thighs and brought her with him. She wrapped her legs around him as he once again ravished her mouth. He turned to walk towards the bed and when he got there he laid her gently on her back so that he was kneeling between her legs. He moved his mouth to her neck where he feathered her with kisses. He kissed and licked along her collar bone enjoying the moans he heard coming from her. He place a kiss between her breasts before moving his hand up to gently cup her. He felt heat explode in his gut when she let out a moan when he took one hardened nipple between his fingers. She arched her back off the bed when he took her other nipple into his mouth.

She brought her hands to behind his head as he drove her crazy with his mouth. He moved his attention to her other breast and she let out a groan of pleasure. Without warning he moved his mouth back up to hers and once again kissed her deeply while running his hand down her body to her waiting heat. He brought his hand between her legs and felt the wetness at her entrance. She sucked in a breath when he teased her with his fingers.

"I want to watch you go over the edge Regina. I want to see the pleasure on your face." She whimpered when his fingers slowly pushed into her. She lifted her hips off the bed as he began to do incredible things to her body. She felt her muscles begin to tense and just as she felt her release was close he pressed his palm into her clit making her come hard.

He swallowed her scream with a kiss and once again began an exploration of her body with his mouth. He gave attention to her breasts again causing her to arch off the bed. He trailed his lips down her stomach moving ever lower. Her breath increased when she felt his hands on her thighs and she allowed him to part her legs. She lifted herself up on her elbows as she watched him kiss his way up her inner thighs.

"Robin." She breathed out.

In that moment her ran his tongue along the length of her. Regina let out a loud moan and fell back onto the bed. She felt his tongue move in and out of her several times before he once again entered her with his very skilled fingers. She nearly screamed when she felt his tongue circle her clit. She panted as he continued his ministrations. She felt like she would explode any moment. She saw stars when he sucked the sensitive bundle of nerves into his mouth and caused her to come once again.

Robin grinned as he tasted her and heard the sounds of pleasure come from her. Her body's response to his touch was incredible. He continued his ministrations while she rode out her orgasm. When she once again went limp on the bed. He stood quickly to remove his underwear. He was throbbing with need for her now and didn't think he could wait any longer.

He kissed his way back up her body, pleased when he placed a kiss between her breasts and felt her wild heartbeat. He loved that he could do this to her. He loved that he could bring her such pleasure.

When he reached her lips he kissed her deeply once again. She brought her hands up behind his head and deepened the kiss.

"Robin…" she breathed out as he positioned himself at her entrance. "Please."

He kissed her deeply again before he entered her. This time both of them letting out a moan. He moved inside her and smiled when he once again heard her intake of breath. He felt her tighten around him as she was swept away by another orgasm.

He slowed his thrusts as he waited for her to look up at him. He grinned at her when she looked at him with unfocused eyes. He kissed her again before leaning in to her ear and whispering. "I love you Regina."

Regina's eyes snapped open and she looked at him as he smiled down at her. "Robin.." She started.

He shook his head. "You don't have to say it back yet. I just want you to know…I wanted to tell you now." He ran his hand along her arm and laced his fingers with hers before he slowly began to thrust inside her.

She sighed as she felt pleasure building in her core. She pulled him back down for another kiss and whispered. "Come with me."

He felt her tighten around him once more and they swallowed each others moans as he quickly followed.

He collapsed on top of her and she pulled her arms tight around him. They breathed hard trying to catch their breath and Robin started to shift off of her worried that he might crush her beneath him only to have her old tight and whisper. "Not yet."

He relaxed at the feel of her stroking his hair and felt love fill his heart all over again. Right now in this moment with her, he was home.

He lifted his head slightly and looked into her satisfied eyes. "I'm going to squish you." He told her with a grin.

She smiled up at him. "I like this feeling. I don't want it to end."

He grinned at her. "It doesn't have too." He told her and slipped his arms under her back. He rolled off her and pulled her with him so that she now laid on top of him. "We'll just reverse it."

She propped herself up so she look down at him. "Robin, no one has ever made me feel the way you just did." She placed a light kiss to his lips. "You made me feel.." She paused looking for the right words. Her eyes filled with tears. "You made me feel loved, and cherished."

"Good." He leaned up and gave her a chaste kiss. "Because you should feel those things Regina, everyday of your life." He brought his hand up to stroke her hair. "I love you."

She smiled even as a tear fell. "I'm so scared of what those words will mean. Everyone I love I lose."

"I don't want you to say it until you are ready…until you feel it, but I'm going to keep telling you because despite everything Regina I don't think you really believe that you deserve love. I don't think you believe that anyone could love you…but I'm going to keep saying it until you believe me." He wiped the tears from her eyes with his thumbs. "I'm going to keep showing you."

She smiled down at him. "How did I get so lucky?"

He grinned as he cupped her bottom in his hands. "I'm the one who's lucky." He squeezed slightly and she laughed. "God Regina you are incredible."

She smiled and leaned in placing a seductive kiss to his lips. "Lusting after me again already?" She asked.

"Oh yeah." He smiled up at her.

"You know you did some pretty incredible things to my body." She ran her fingers along his shoulder.

"Hmm…" He made a sound as she began to pepper kisses along his neck. "Want me to do them again?"

"Maybe later." she looked into his eyes for a moment before leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Right now I think I'm going to do some incredible things to yours." She promised.

She shifted slightly so she could run her hand down his body and he moaned when she took his already hardening length into her hand. "Sounds promising." He choked out before she began to trail her lips down his chest and over his stomach. His eyes nearly crossed when she began to make good on her promise.

XXXXXXXX

He woke with her gloriously naked body wrapped around him. If he woke like this everyday for the rest of his life he would be a happy man. They'd made love all night long and Robin was certain he'd never felt like this before.

He'd loved his wife. He loved her with his whole heart, but what he felt for Regina was different…more intense. Was this what it was to be with a soul mate? The person you were destined to be with.

There had been a moment when he'd first began falling for Regina he'd felt a bit of guilt. As if allowing himself to fall for her would be disloyal to his wife, but it had only taken the memory of her and her sweet nature to convince him that she would want him to move on. She would want him to be happy.

Regina certainly made him happy. At this moment it was arguably the happiest he'd ever been.

He just needed to make her believe it. If it took the rest of his life he would make Regina believe that she was worthy of love.

He felt her shift and looked down to see her smiling up at him.

He felt as if his heart would burst from the love he felt for her. "Good morning beautiful." He smiled at her.

"Good morning." she shifted so she could give him a kiss.

"Mmmm." he said when she laid her head against his shoulder. "I could certainly get used to waking up like this."

She smiled at him. "Me too." She ran her hands over his chest. "Would you like me to fix you breakfast? I am a very good cook."

He grinned and flipped her on to her back. "Maybe in a little while. Right now my appetite is for something other then breakfast."

She laughed as he began to feast on her neck. "That is quite an appetite you have."

He grinned at her. "How can I help it when I have you all naked and sexy in bed with me?"

She smiled at him as he laid on his side and began running his fingers gently along her torso. "I like this…waking up with you, laying here with you, laughing with you. I can't remember a time that I was this happy." she told him.

He leaned in and kissed her softly. "I want nothing more then to make you happy Regina."

She sighed as he ran his fingers between her breasts. "I believe you."

"Good." He leaned in for another kiss that turned heated very quickly. She moaned when he gently caressed her nipple with his hand. "I love touching you." He told her.

She grinned against his mouth. "I love you touching me." She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer.

"Daddy?" they heard from the other side of the door.

Both of their eyes grew wide before they quickly pulled up the covers.

"Uh, what is it buddy?" Robin answered.

"I'm hungry" Roland said. "Can I come in?"

"No…uh hold on a second bud…I'm gonna come out, just um…" Robin stammered.

"Roland why don't you go in your room and change your clothes. There is a bag with some of the ones they bought you yesterday on the floor in the corner. I'll be out in a minute to make breakfast." Regina answered.

"Ok!" the boy answered with excitement. "Thanks Regina!"

She smiled even though he couldn't see her. "You're welcome dear."

When they heard his little feet run in the direction of his room Robin let out a breath and looked at her. "Hey you know what?" He asked and Regina lifted her brow in question. "We have kids."

Regina laughed. "We do, yes." she shifted to place a kiss to his mouth and got out of bed.

He moaned at the site of her naked body as she walked to the closet to retrieve her robe. "You're so hot!" He told her nearly whining. "And I just got all worked up and everything." He complained.

She grinned at him as she pulled on the robe but neglected to close it. "I don't have to do much to get you worked up do I?" she asked walking back towards the bed.

"Yeah, pretty much you just have to breathe." He answered with a grin.

She gave a seductive laugh and leaned in allowing him and excellent view into her open robe. "Good to know dear. Perhaps we can finish this later." She leaned in for one final kiss before closing her robe and walking into the bathroom.

"Holy hell this woman is going to kill me." He muttered as he fell back on the bed.

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**Hope you enjoyed! Please review. **

**There is good news and bad news. The good news is we finally got to some Outlaw Queen sexy times! The bad news is I have updated so frequently that I have now caught up with myself. I no longer have chapters finished in advance so they won't come as frequently as they were. Probably once…maybe twice a week. Sorry but you guys know that reviews keep me motivated!**

**If you haven't had a chance you should check out my Thanksgiving crack fic. I had a lot of fun writing it. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I hope you all have a great one!**

**Look me up on tumblr. I enjoy talking to all of you who send me messages! I'm thequeenstolemyheart on there!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Ok so can I just take a minute to fan girl over Save Henry because OMG it was AMAZING! The best episode yet! I loved it so much!**

**Thank you to all who read and reviewed! You guys are so awesome!**

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Regina couldn't seem to stop smiling as she poured the pancake batter into the pan. Last night had possibly been the most amazing night of her life. She'd had no idea that it could be like that.

Sure she'd been with men, but it had always been about lust and control. Never in her life had someone put her pleasure before their own. No one had ever made her feel the way Robin had last night. He'd made her feel like she were the only thing in the world that mattered.

It was a new feeling for her. Her entire life Regina had felt disposable. People only wanted her when she was useful to them. Even her own son had turned away from her for a time.

She'd finally gotten Henry back. Finally the little boy that she'd given her whole heart to wanted her back in his life. Not only did she have him, but she had Robin and Roland and even a friend in Mulan.

Is this real? She wondered to herself. Could she have this life? Could she be happy?

It was a terrifying thought, but for the first time in her life she was starting to believe that maybe she could be happy again. Maybe she could have everything she'd ever dreamed of.

She was pulled from her thoughts when she felt arms wrap around her from behind. Her heart leapt as she leaned back into the strong arms that offered her the safety she'd always longed for. This man was truly the man of her dreams.

"Whatcha making beautiful?" He wanted to know.

She smiled when he placed a kiss to the side of her head. "Pancakes."

Robin furrowed his brow. "I don't think I've ever had pancakes."

She looked up at him. "You're in for a treat. They're Henry's favorite."

"I can't wait to try them." He placed a kiss to her lips. "I love you."

She felt her heart soar. "You have no idea how nice it is to hear those words." She turned in his arms.

He smiled at her. "I love you."

She pulled him down to her for a kiss. She wanted to say what she was feeling but the words terrified her. Everyone she'd ever said them to she lost, with the exception of Henry…but she'd even lost him for a time.

"Robin…" She started.

He shook his head already knowing what she was going to say. "Regina I know why you can't say it yet." He smiled as he pulled her in for another kiss. "It's not going to stop me from telling you. While I'm at it I should probably throw in that you are the most beautiful, sweetest, funniest and sexiest woman I know." He rubbed her back when she smiled shyly. "You're incredible Regina. How could I not fall in love with you?"

She rested her hands on his chest "You're the one who's incredible."

She turned back around to flip the pancakes and he continued to hold her from behind. She felt perfectly content just like this.

"Good morning!" They heard the chipper voice of Roland as he entered the kitchen. They glanced over to see the boy standing in the door. Regina couldn't help but chuckle when she saw he'd put his Spiderman shirt on backwards. "What are you guys doing?" he wanted to know.

"Well Regina is making pancakes and I am cuddling with her." Robin informed the boy as he walked over to them.

Roland smiled. "I like cuddling with Regina too." He shared.

Regina smiled and turned from the stove as she placed the final two pancakes on the plate. "Well then I guess it's a good thing I have plenty of cuddles to spread around." She picked Roland up and moved to sit him on the counter. "Want me to show you a trick of how to wear the clothing in this world?" She asked.

Roland nodded. She pulled his shirt up and over his head then held it so the boy could see the tag in the back. "Do you see this tag?" He nodded again. "It always goes in the back." She turned the shirt the right way and pulled it back over his head.

Roland grinned down at his shirt. "Now I can see the picture!"

Regina gave him a bright smile. "Yep."

"Who is this in the picture Regina?" He wanted to know.

"That is Spiderman. He is one of the heroes in this world. Henry can tell you all about him." She smiled as she picked him up again. It was amazing just how hard she'd fallen for this little boy. It was good having a young child around again. She missed Henry being little. She missed getting to cuddle him and pepper kisses all over his face. He was getting to old for all that now, but Roland was still young enough to love it.

She carried him to the table and frowned once she sat him in the chair. He could use a booster seat. He was still so small. "I'm gonna have to have to pick you up a booster chair." she said as she turned and brought the pancakes to the table.

"What's that?" The little boy wondered.

She grinned at him. "It will make you taller when you sit at the table."

His eyes went wide. "Will I be as big as Daddy?"

She smiled as she plucked him out of his chair and settled him on her lap while she poured syrup over his pancake. "Almost." She kissed his nose when he grinned up at her.

"Regina I can hold him, you don't have too." Robin told her as he sat down.

"Don't be ridiculous." She waved Robin's hand away when he reached for the boy. She wrapped her arms around him and nuzzled in closer to Roland as he dug into his pancakes. "I like cuddling with you too." She said in a whisper causing the boy to grin up at her with a syrup covered chin.

Robin watched her with his son. She truly was incredible. She listened to every word the four year old said as if it was the most important thing in the world. She didn't shy away from the sticky hands and didn't even flinch when the boy plastered a sticky wet kiss to her cheek. Instead she nuzzled his neck and tickled his sides sending him into fits of laughter. She must have been a wonderful mother to Henry.

Just when he thought he couldn't possibly love her more he fell harder.

When Roland had finished Regina had taken in the site of the sticky child and laughed. "I guess we should have waited to put your clean shirt on huh?" She said and the boy grinned at her.

"I can go get another one!" He told her as she wiped down his hands and face with a wet rag.

"Ok, leave this one down here and I will throw it in with the laundry to wash later."

The boy nodded and pealed the shirt off handing it to her. "I'm gonna get dressed by myself!" He announced "I remember about the tags now!" He said as he ran from the room.

Regina grinned as he scampered off. She looked at Robin. "He's so sweet."

Robin smiled. "Yes he is." He gestured to the shirt. "Regina I don't want you doing our wash it's way to much work. You don't even have a stream close."

Regina laughed. "I don't need a stream. I'll just throw it in the machine."

"The machine?" He questioned.

She smiled. "The washing machine. It's just one more thing that makes life here so much easier." She took his hand and pulled him toward the laundry room and flipped on the light. She gestured to the washing machine. "See." She grinned at him.

Robin studied the machine. "This does your wash?"

Regina smiled. "Yep."

"What's that one do?" He asked pointing at the other machine."

"That's the dryer." Regina told him.

"You have something that dries your wash too?" He said amazed.

"Mmmhmm." She said as she tossed Roland's shirt into the hamper. She walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I told you…this world is pretty great."

He wrapped his arms around her. "No kidding." He lifted his hand to her hair. "You have syrup in your hair."

She grinned. "It's been a while since that's happened."

"You used to get syrup in your hair often?" he wanted to know.

"Of course. I raised a little boy of my own remember." She grinned. "I was once a frazzled mommy that could barely function because of lack of sleep. There was a time I was lucky to get a shower everyday. I had to wait till Henry was asleep. He was an active little boy."

"Well even with syrup in your hair you're still the most beautiful woman in the world." He leaned in for a kiss.

She grinned into his mouth. "I like having Roland around. I miss Henry being little."

"It's a good age." Robin agreed.

He pulled back and took her hand as they walked out of the laundry room. They found Mulan standing in the middle of the kitchen looking at all of the appliances like something may explode on her at any moment. She looked at Regina and sighed with relief. "I don't know what I'm doing."

Regina laughed. "How about I introduce you to all the appliances. You really have nothing to be afraid of."

Regina gave Mulan the kitchen tour and then settled the woman at the table for pancakes.

"This world is definitely going to take some getting used too." Mulan said and sampled one of the pancakes. She nodded her head "But the food's good!"

Regina's phone began to ring just as Roland bounced back into the kitchen in an Iron Man shirt this time. She grinned as she picked up the phone and saw it was Emma's number.

Robin watched her face light up when she put the phone to her ear.

"Hello?" she paused for a moment. "Hi baby."

He saw her smile fade. "Sweetheart what's wrong?" Regina face instantly showed barely masked fury. "Honey, don't worry. I'll be right there." She nodded her head, "I'm coming baby. I'll be there in a minute. I love you."

Regina hung up the phone and Robin walked over to her as she grabbed her keys from the island. "I have to go out for a minute."

"Regina." Robin took her arm. "What is it?"

Regina shook her head. She should have expected this really. "It's the two idiots of course! What else?"

Robin nodded. "I'm coming with you." He told her. "Mulan can you watch Roland for a few?"

"Sure." Mulan looked at Regina with some concern. There wasn't just anger in her eyes, but worry as well. "As long as you need."

Robin nodded at his friend. "Thank you." He bent down to Roland. "Buddy I will be back in a little while ok?" He kissed his son on the head. "I love you."

"I love you too Dad! I love you Regina!" the boy called out.

Regina's look softened when she looked at the small boy. "I love you too sweetheart." She ran her hand over his head before Robin took it into his. "Your not alone anymore Regina. Remember that."

She nodded wanting desperately to believe him. Had she truly thought she could have everything? Maybe she wasn't meant to be happy. Maybe she had done to much wrong. As strong as the feelings were that she had for Robin and Roland she would never be truly happy without her little prince. Her sweet baby boy. She felt Robin squeeze her hand as she walked with him out the door.

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She'd barely had a chance to knock on the door before it was opening and Henry was throwing himself at her waist.

"Mom I don't want to live here anymore! I want to go with you!" Henry told her once again tearing up.

Regina wrapped her arms tight around her little boy and looked up to see Emma and Neal looking at them both, each with a feeling of guilt etched on their faces. "Does someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Regina wanted to know.

"My parents got him a little worked up this morning." Emma stated and winced when Regina pinned her with a glare.

"I told them I wanted to live with you again and they said I couldn't! They said that we needed to start with supervised visits!" He pulled away from Regina to turn and shout at Emma and Neal "I want my Mom back!"

Regina placed her hands on her son's shoulders feeling barely able to suppress her fury. She felt a little calmer when she felt Robin's hand on her back. "Where are they now?"

"I made them leave so I could try and calm Henry down." Emma answered.

Regina nodded. "And do you agree with their planned custody arrangement?"

"Regina I just…" She took a breath when Regina continued to glare at her. "No, no I don't. You have to understand Regina that they only see what you once were. They don't understand that you are different now."

"I don't have to see anything Ms. Swan. The only thing I see is that my son is crying and upset because he wants to go home with his mother." Regina told her.

"We do see that Regina." Neal spoke up from beside Emma. "It's why you're here."

"I want to go home with Mom! I don't want to see them!" Henry shouted.

"Henry I know that you're angry with them, but they are really only trying to look out for you…they just don't understand that..."

"No!" Henry interrupted. "They don't know what's best for me and neither do you! You didn't even know me until a year ago because you left me!" He glared at Neal. "Both of you did!" Emma looked as if she'd been slapped.

"Henry enough." Regina turned to him and crouched down to his level.

"No Mom! You are the only one that's always been there!" Henry sobbed and once again wrapped himself around Regina.

Regina stood there feeling helpless. As she stroked her son's hair.

"Henry, why don't you go pack some clothes." She heard Emma's voice from behind her.

Henry looked up from Regina's chest and Emma gave him a half smile and nodded. "I'm not going to keep you here if you don't want to be."

Henry looked at her for another moment before turning and walking up the stairs.

Regina turned back to Emma when Henry was out of ear shot. "Ms Swan, I understand that your parents are insufferable idiots so I am not going to completely blame you for this, but could you not have stood up to them. I understand that bad mouthing me comes as everyone's second nature, but could you not have stopped them in front of my son?"

"Regina I'm sorry, I wasn't even down here when it started and by the time I got downstairs the damage was already done." Emma told her.

Regina studied Emma for a moment. "I don't want to fight with you Emma or your moronic parents but I will tell you right now that the only reason Henry has lived with you this long is because I allowed it. I allowed it because it's what he wanted. He doesn't want it anymore. The adoption was completely legal. I still have custody of him. I will fight you." She held up her hand when Emma started to speak. "I understand that Storybrook isn't exactly under the law of this country, but I will take him Emma and I will go somewhere that I do have rights. I don't want to leave my home, but I will for my son. I will give up everything for him."

Regina felt a hand on her shoulder. "No one is going to take your son Regina." She took a breath when she felt Robin's hand steady her.

Neal nodded. "He's right no one is going to take him. Henry has been through enough. He shouldn't have to go through being kept from his mother."

"I don't agree with them Regina, but I do think we all need to sit down and try to work things out. Henry won't be happy until his family can be at peace with each other. Maybe we can have a meeting, just the five of us and work it out."

"Six." Robin stated from behind Regina. "Regina is not fighting alone anymore. I will be at this meeting with her."

Emma gave him an odd look for a moment trying to figure out just what these two were to each other but nodded. "Fine, the six of us." She looked back at Regina. "I'm not going to take Henry from you Regina. I just want to work this out with all of us…my parents are going to be in Henry's life. Isn't it better that we are all civil to each other?"

Regina glanced over as her son came down the stairs. "It wasn't I that was the uncivil one today Emma. I was willing to deal with your insufferable parents."

Emma nodded. "How about we meet here tomorrow night around seven?"

Regina nodded. "Fine" She put her arm around Henry. "I'll see you then."

She took a small breath of relief when she exited the apartment. She felt soothed when Robin took her hand into his. She took a deep breath and pulled her son closer to her side. She would do whatever it took to keep her son with her.

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**Ok I just had to add my the "my little prince" part because how freaking sweet was that last night. Seriously dying of feels.**

**So sorry I posted so late. Apparently some punk (teenagers maybe) thought it would be funny to pound on the side of my house trying to scare me. Had to call the police, but they were long gone by the time they got here. It suck that my husband works nights!**

**Ok so you guys know that reviews are my crack so please tell me what you thought of this chapter!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Warning: Fluff! Enjoy!**

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Regina walked in the door of the pizza parlor followed by Robin, Henry, Mulan and Roland. After taking some time that morning to reassure Henry that everything would turn out ok and that he would not lose her they'd decided to get their minds of things by showing Roland, Robin and Mulan the town. They'd already been to visit the arcade and the playground that Regina had built the year before. Roland had enjoyed himself playing on the swings and slides.

They'd also visited a bookstore and Roland had discovered the joys of Dr. Seuss. Regina bought him several of the books secretly pleased as she shared the same love for the stories he did. Henry liked them when he was little as well, but he'd been much more into super heroes and comic books. Regina had bought many of the children's books back then simply to indulge herself. She'd already made plans to dig them out when they got back home.

Roland was having some trouble figuring out what to do with his room so they'd made plans that evening to have a movie/book/comic book marathon to teach him more about some of the popular things in this world. He'd watched Sesame Street that morning and it had made him very excited about learning the alphabet and counting. In the Enchanted Forest there hadn't been a song to learn the alphabet. There were many things about this world that made learning easier. Here it was also understood that not all children learn the same way and that sometimes a different strategy was needed to help a child succeed. There were many children who had struggled with learning in the Enchanted Forest that Regina imagined would flourish here under different teaching strategies. It was just another way that this world accepted people who were different from "the norm."

They all took a seat at a round table near the center of the restaurant.

"I'm so exited for you guys to try pizza!" Henry told them. "It is the best food in this world other then Mom's lasagna!"

Regina smiled at her son. "I'm glad that my lasagna tops the list."

Henry grinned. "Can I show Roland some of the video games?"

Regina nodded and reached for her purse. She pulled out a few dollars and handed them to Henry. "You'll have to get change."

"Thanks Mom!" Henry took the money and started to run for the counter but stopped in his tracks. He turned back around and ran back to her. He placed a kiss to her cheek before running up to the counter.

Regina couldn't help the smile the affection of her son brought to her face. She felt Robin's hand take hers under the table. "I told you you wouldn't lose him." He whispered to her.

She smiled back at him. "It's hard for me to believe in things actually going right for me."

He stroked her hand. "I've noticed. I think you should start getting used to it though."

She smiled back at him before turning to Mulan. "So what do you think of our world so far?"

"It's interesting." Mulan told her. "Everything is so confusing. I suppose I will get used to all these gadgets that supposedly make life easier."

Regina smiled. "You will. I promise."

When the pizza came they dug in as if they were starving. A morning full of playing and shopping had worked up an appetite. They all agreed that they were indeed a fan of pizza.

After lunch Mulan decided to separate from the group and explore on her own leaving the four of them to themselves.

"I think we should find you guys some more clothes." Regina told Robin and Roland. "You each only have few things and you will definitely be needing more."

Henry and Roland walked ahead while Robin and Regina walked a bit behind them. "Regina…" Robin started. "I don't like that you are paying for everything. I didn't come to this world so that I could free load off of you."

Regina blinked at the statement. "Of course you didn't…Robin it's not a big deal. I have the money and I want to do it."

Robin shook his head "It's not right Regina I don't like it, I'm going to find work and pay you back for everything."

Regina turned to him with a dangerous glint in her eye. "And what exactly isn't right about it? When Henry and I were in the Enchanted Forest you provided a home, food and clothing for us. Why is this any different?" she narrowed her eyes. "Because I'm a woman?"

Robin paused for a moment sensing that he'd backed himself into a corner. "I…no…"

"You know for someone who is so enlightened when it comes to treating women as equals you are acting incredibly dense about this subject." She continued. "Why can't I treat my guests who I happen to love having in my home to the things in this world? You need food and clothing and I can provide it for you! I want to provide it for you!"

"Regina your taking me wrong I just don't want to live off of you forever." He told her.

"Forever?" She scoffed "You've been here a day! How exactly does that equate to forever?"

"Ok, I'm sorry." He stepped closer to her and put his hand on her waist. "I just want to make sure that I have a way to provide for me and Roland." He lifted a hand to her hair. "And for you."

Regina softened a bit. "You do provide for me." She told him. "You provide love and acceptance. You give me so much more then money ever could."

Robin smiled a little. "It doesn't change the fact that I want to be able to provide for my family. It's not like in the Enchanted Forest where I go out and hunt my own food. Here I have no skills."

Regina wrapped her arms around his neck. Now for the first time she was reassuring him with one of his insecurities. "Robin you have so many skills." She laid a hand over his chest. "Your heart alone is an asset." She looked down for a moment. "I was thinking about things you may like to do here before we came back. Before the curse broke there was a center for troubled kids. It was a place for kids to go who didn't have the best home life. When the curse broke it shut down as everyone went back to being the annoying fairy tale characters they were, but it's still needed. It's desperately still needed, maybe even more now." She ran her hand along his hair. "I think that you would be perfect to take over."

"So I would have a chance to help people?" He asked.

She smiled brilliantly at him. "Yes."

He smiled at her and lowered his mouth to hers. "I think I would like that."

The broke apart when they heard someone clear their throat. They looked over to find Henry and Roland sitting on a bench beside them. "Are you guys finished with your little fight turned mushy kiss fest?" Henry wanted to know.

Regina narrowed her eyes at her son. "I would love to know where you got your snarky attitude."

Henry just shrugged and said with a grin. "I'm your kid."

Regina couldn't help but crack a grin at his comment. The fact that her son was quite witty sure the hell didn't come from the Charming genes. She loved that she could see pieces of herself in him. Even if it was this particular trait that he'd picked up.

"They were doing lots of kissing this morning too!" Roland spoke up from beside Henry.

"Tattletale." Robin said as he picked the boy up off the bench and tickled him. He looked down at Henry. "You should probably get used to seeing it though because I have very quickly found that kissing your Mom is one of my favorite things to do."

Henry rolled his eyes good naturedly. "Great." He looked over to his Mom with a playful grin. "Just promise that you won't ever get as mushy as Grandma and Grandpa" He said.

Regina pulled him into a head lock. "It insults me that you would even say such a thing! As if I could ever be as disgustingly sweet as those two!"

Henry chuckled and wrapped an arm around his Mother. The way she was with Robin reminded him of how things had been before he'd found out about the curse and pulled away from her. When he was little she'd always been smiling and they'd always had fun together. He'd nearly forgotten what it was like to have his Mom happy…truly happy, but it was clear to Henry that Robin made her happy.

Anyone that could make his Mother smile the way she was smiling now was ok in Henry's book.

Regina looked down at her son as they walked into the clothing store and frowned at his jeans. "It looks as if you have outgrown your pants." She took a moment to study him realizing how much he'd grown. When in the hell had that happened? "It looks as if you could use some new clothes yourself."

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Regina walked to the table after entering the mansion to set her keys down and chuckled when she turned to find her three boys loaded down with bags to the point that they could hardly see.

"I suppose I may have gone a bit overboard." She smiled.

Henry rolled his eyes as he dropped his bags to the floor. "This is why we never go shopping with Mom!" He complained.

Regina furrowed her brow offended. "What? You all need clothes."

Henry smirked. "And the two pairs of shoes you bought for yourself?"

"They were on sale." She stated simply and walked off into the kitchen.

"Come on boys lets get this stuff upstairs" Robin said turning towards the stairs.

By the time they got everything unloaded something glorious could be smelled coming from the kitchen. The boys ran off to play in the game room while Robin followed the smell and found Regina by the stove.

"There's my girl." He stated and she turned around to grin at him.

"I like that." She told him as he walked over to her. "You calling me your girl."

He leaned in for a kiss. "You are my girl." He pointed out.

She smiled up at him. "Yes I am." She agreed.

"What smells so good?" He wanted to know.

"Chicken Enchilada's" She told him.

"I can't wait to try them." He paused for a minute. "Regina I still want to pay you back for the stuff you bought us today."

She rolled her eyes. "Are we still on that?" She huffed. "Robin, that stuff was a gift. I wanted to give it to you. I want to redo Roland's room with his favorite things and buy him clothes and spoil him." She smiled. "It makes me happy to have another little one in the house so will you please allow me to indulge myself?"

Robin nodded. "Ok, but you bought me some stuff too."

Regina grinned. "I did and that was also a gift, although those things benefit me as well." When he only lifted a brow in question she explained. "All the clothes I bought you look incredibly sexy on you. I'm going to love looking at you in them."

Robin grinned back at her. "The clothing of this world is much more comfortable."

"Mmmm and the blue jeans I bought you showcase your ass….ets" She cleared her throat. "Your assets very well." She smiled. "Seriously will you stop worrying about me spending money on you and Roland? I want to do it. It makes me happy."

He sighed but relented. "Fine, but I want to start working as soon as possible."

She leaned into him for a kiss. "I will see what I can do about securing your job tomorrow, but for right now I would really just like to enjoy this night with my family."

"Your family?" He wanted to know as he wrapped his arms around her.

She blinked as she looked up at him realizing what she had said. "I suppose I am beginning to think of you and Roland as my family." She smiled a little at him. "Is that ok with you?"

He leaned in to kiss her. "That is perfectly ok with me."

She smiled. "Good then lets have dinner and then we can have a family movie night…and later…" She trailed off with a grin.

"Later?" He wanted to know.

She smiled. "Later maybe you can talk me into showing you some of the new underclothes I bought while the three of you were picking out shoes."

Robin grinned. "I'm definitely looking forward to later."

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"OH MY GOD!" She nearly screamed it as Robin chuckled and bent down to her ear.

"Shhh, you'll wake the kids." He whispered as he slipped his arms under her and rolled her limp body on top of his.

"I can't move my body. How in the hell do you do that?!" She wanted to know as she rested her head on his chest. Her muscles felt like jello.

Robin laughed again. "I pay attention to what you like…what you respond to and I do it." He brought his hands up to stroke her back. "It's not really that complicated."

"Jesus, you could give lessons." She chuckled as she attempted to wiggle her toes just to see if she could. "There are a lot of men out there that need your help." She laughed again. "And a lot of women that would be grateful for it."

He laughed. "The only woman I'm worrying about keeping satisfied is you."

She finally attempted to lift her head so she could look at him. She rested her chin on his chest and smiled. "I'm going to have to sound proof the room the next time we do that."

He stroked her hair. "I think that's a good idea." He lifted his head for a kiss. "How many times was that?" He wanted to know grinning. "Five? Six?"

Regina let out a throaty chuckle. "I have no idea, I was a little preoccupied with the unbelievable sensations flowing through my body."

He pulled her up to meet his lips. "I counted six."

She laughed "Of course you kept count."

He grinned. "I have to make sure and keep my girl happy."

"I am." She smiled down at him. "I think this may be the happiest I've ever been." She said seriously.

"Good." He said as he planted a kiss on her nose. "I want to make sure you stay that way." He paused to look into her eyes for a moment before she settled her head back on his chest. "I love you." He told her.

Regina have a small smile finally beginning to think she could believe in love again. It was the last thought in her head before his heartbeat lulled her to sleep.

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**Lots of fluff this chapter! I know nothing big happened, but I thought we could all use a little family fluffiness before the big meeting. I hope you all enjoyed. **

**I think I let the special needs teacher in me show a little this chapter as well, not to mention my love of Dr. Seuss! You guys will see that again later as well. (Spoiler: Roland's going to be a fan!)**

**Ok so please leave me a review and let me know what you think. Also let me know if there are any family fluffy things you would like to see and if it works I can try and work it in. You all really are the best! Thank you so much for all of your support through this story! **

**Come say hi on Tumbr. I'm thequeenstolemyheart there. I could use some people to chat with tonight as I am snowed in and not for sure if my husband will be able to get home from work. We live up a giant hill in the country and they are saying to stay off of our roads so he may end up having to stay at his dad's. I'm bored! Lol Talk to me!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you to everyone who read an reviewed! Love you all! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**There is a trigger warning on this chapter as Regina's past is brought up again. It's pretty brief.**

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Regina walked into the diner to find the blonde already waiting for her. She'd left Robin at home with Mulan and the boys so she could have this meeting. She'd called Emma the night before a to arrange to have breakfast. If she was going to get Robin this job she was going to need Emma's help.

"Emma." She greeted. "Thank you for agreeing to meet with me."

"Sure" Emma said. "Is it about Henry?"

Regina shook her head. "No, it's actually about Robin and Mulan."

"Oh." Emma said with some surprise. "Ok, what about them."

"Robin is wanting a job and I think it won't be long before Mulan will be wanting one as well." Regina said. "Mulan is actually the easy one here." Regina told her. "I was thinking that maybe you could hire her at the police station."

"I already have a deputy." Emma said with some hesitancy.

"Yes that has to leave daily every time your mother throws a tantrum." Regina rolled her eyes. "Emma I think we both know that Mulan would be a perfect fit for the job and you need someone reliable."

Emma nodded and gave her a small smirk. "I'll need to up the budget for the police department."

Regina looked at her for a moment. "I no longer have control over Storybrook finances or I would give it to you."

Emma nodded. "I'll see what I can do."

"Now about Robin…" Regina paused. "I would like to open the children's center back up and have him run it." She looked up at Emma. "He would be perfect for the job Emma. He believes in helping people and for years has fought for starving and oppressed people. He has a huge heart and I think he would be a great fit there."

Emma nodded and raised a brow. "I think it's great, but I'm confused why you're talking to me about it."

"The center has been closed since the curse broke." Regina stated. "We will need funding to open it back up again and like I said before I am not in charge of funding anymore."

"My parents are." Emma was starting to understand.

"Emma if I make the suggestion your mother will shoot it down simply because it's mine." Regina said. "Even with you making the suggestion she isn't going to want to do it."

Emma shook her head. "Why wouldn't she? I mean a place for troubled kids to go is a great thing isn't it?"

"Why would Storybrook need a place for troubled children now that the curse is broken? After all, all of the happy endings are back." Regina stated.

Emma furrowed her brow. "That's stupid Regina. There are more orphans now then there was when the curse was in effect especially since we came back from Neverland with some of the lost boys. More children need help now then they ever did before."

"You and I know that Emma, but your mother isn't going to see it that way." When Emma only stared at her she sighed. "Surely you've noticed that your mother can be a bit on the self centered side." Emma looked down for a moment. "Look I know that she is always spouting off about being good and doing the right thing, but Emma take it from someone who lived the royal life. People like your mother have no idea what the world really needs."

Emma sighed. "So you want me to go to bat for you? To reopen the center?"

Regina nodded. "I do…Emma it would benefit the whole town. You and I both know that anything I suggest would be shot down by the town council in a minute."

"I don't know about that Regina." Emma started. She looked like she wanted to say more but let it drop. "I will talk to my parents" She smiled "I will tell them the reason I want to do it is because I grew up an orphan and want to see these kids get help." Emma shrugged. "It's true enough and the added guilt trip should get me what I want."

Regina gave her a genuine smile. "Thank you."

"Why are you doing all this? What's in it for you?" Emma wanted to know.

"Believe it or not Emma I want these children to have help as well. Why do you think Storybrook even has a place like this to begin with?" Regina asked. "And I want Robin to run it because he would be fantastic at it. I know he would." she smiled a little "And it will make him happy."

Emma studied her for a moment. "You really care about him."

Regina nodded. "I do."

"I think it's a great idea Regina I actually have some other ideas in the works, but maybe we should wait and talk about all of that tonight." Emma told her.

Regina nodded. "Fine." They both looked up as their breakfast came. "Is there anything you need me to bring tonight?" The brunette asked.

Emma smirked. "Alcohol…lot's of alcohol."

Regina laughed as she dug into her French toast.

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Regina fidgeted with the ring on her hand as they walked up to the apartment building. While she knew that Henry wanted to stay with her and at the moment Emma and Neal were on her side she also knew that things could change in an instant. Things rarely ended up the way Regina wanted them to. For all she knew this was a trick to get her away from Henry so someone could come in and "rescue" him from the Evil Queen while she was distracted.

"Hey" Robin turned her towards him and ran his hands up and down her arms. "It's going to be ok." Regina nodded trying desperately to believe that her life would finally go the way she wanted it to. He brought his hands up to her face and leaned in to kiss her lightly then pulled her into his arms.

Regina rested her head against his shoulder allowing the feeling of being in his arms to calm her as it always did. "I just want this to work out so badly. I don't want Henry feeling like he has to chose between me and them." She pulled back to look up at him. "It's not fair to him."

"It sounds to me like Emma and Neal feel the same way. As far as I can tell this meeting is going to be four against two and we have the better odds."

She gave him a small smile. "I've thought that before and ended up losing."

"Not this time." He leaned in for one more kiss.

She held up the bottle of wine in her hand. "Maybe we should get them drunk first. Snow can't hold her alcohol. She'll agree to anything if we just get her plastered."

Robin grinned. "How about we make that plan B."

They walked into the building hand in hand and made their way up the stairs. Robin lightly knocked on the door. He ran his thumb along the back of her hand to soothe her.

It was Emma who pulled open the door and gave her a smile. "Hey."

Regina gave a tight smile back. "Hey."

"Come on in." Emma told her. The blonde was also nervous about this meeting, but not for all the same reasons Regina was. She suspected that by the end of this evening her parents weren't going to be very happy with her either.

Regina and Robin walked in to find Charming and Snow already seated at the table and Neal in the kitchen opening a bottle of wine. He looked at Regina's hands to find that she had brought one as well.

"I see we had the same idea." He tried to lighten the tension in the room with a smile. "I figured we could use a little something to help us all relax."

Regina walked to the counter and handed the bottle over to him. "I think it's going to take more then this to make anyone in this room relax." She said it so only he could hear and he grinned at her.

When the wine was opened and they were all seated around the table there was a long awkward silence as they all stared at each other.

Emma cleared her throat. "Ok I guess I will start." When no one objected she paused wondering just what in the hell she was supposed to say. The idea of all of them sitting down to work things out had sounded great yesterday but now that they were all here she was at a loss.

"Ok, I'll start." Neal started when Emma failed to say anything. "I think that Henry should be allowed to choose where he wants to live." he didn't back down when Snow shot daggers at him with her eyes. "He's twelve years old and he's a smart kid. If he wants to go back and live with Regina then he should be allowed to."

"Henry is confused. He was kidnapped and taken to a place where you remember your childhood when you're lonely at night and it causes you to miss your parents. He was taken from his family and then stranded in the Enchanted Forest with only Regina. He's uneasy and not thinking rationally and I don't think now is the time to put a decision like this into his hands." Snow said to Neal.

"Isn't that the point though?" Emma spoke up before anyone else could say anything. "You just said it Snow, he was in a place where children miss their parents at night when they are alone. It wasn't Neal or I or even you that was able to break Pan's spell on Henry…It was Regina." She said looking at her mother. "Because no matter who Henry's biological parents are Regina is his mother. She is the one who raised him and did all the things mothers do."

"Yes and are we forgetting that it is because of her that you grew up without one." Snow pointed out. "She doesn't even regret it."

"You're right I don't." Regina spoke for the first time. "Because if I regretted that then I would regret Henry. No matter how sorry I am for the things I did I wouldn't go back and undo them because then I wouldn't have my little boy."

"You ruined my life!" Snow raised her voice at her.

"And you ruined mine! Does that make us even dear?" Regina said calmly.

"I was a child Regina, I didn't know what I was doing." Snow defended herself.

"You have certainly always seen yourself as a victim, I suppose the fact that you wanted me as a mother then was only in the back of your mind when you told my mother my plans to meet up with Daniel. You cost him his life. You like to pretend to be an innocent victim Snow but you are far from it."

"An innocent victim…" Snow looked appalled. "You mean like my father who you murdered?!"

Regina gave a false laugh. "Oh your father was far from innocent."

"Look." Emma interrupted them. "I don't know that we need to dredge up the past, I think we simply need to find some common ground when it comes to Henry."

"No Emma." Snow interrupted her. "It isn't fair that she should get everything she wants when she has done so much evil. Henry needs to be with us. He is a prince by blood. He needs to be raised as one. He needs to become as wonderful a leader as my father was!"

"My son will _never_ be like your father." Regina spoke slowly her rage evident in her voice.

"I would be proud if Henry grew up to be as good and pure as my father." Snow turned her nose up.

"Good? Pure?" Regina scowled. "I think perhaps that the two of us should come to terms on your definition of good." She paused for a moment. "Does a good man ignore the poverty right under his nose everyday. Does a good man who has the financial means to help people turn the other way when faced with a starving child in his own kingdom."

"My father only wanted the happiness of all in his kingdom." Snow told her.

"You are so naive, It's a waste really. I've often wondered how someone so smart could be so incredibly stupid." Regina scoffed. "Your father didn't even give a damn that his own wife was miserable. Do you know how many times I stood on that damn balcony in my room desperately wanting to jump? To just end it all, to be with Daniel again." Regina leaned forward. "Do you think your father even once bothered to ask me if I was happy?"

"My father did everything for you…he made you queen!" Snow shouted at her.

"Your father took a child for a bride. A child who wanted him no where near her." She sneered a bit at Snow and in her face Robin saw traces of the Queen she had once been. "Tell me dear…." she drawled out. "Did you enjoy your wedding night with your true love here?" She gave a fierce grin. "You realize you have me to thank for it…if your father had been alive do you honestly believe that he would have allowed you to marry your shepherd?"

"My father believed in love." Snow said quietly.

"No your father believed in anything that would make his kingdom more powerful." She shook her head. "If your father had been alive you would have married off to a man just like him. Most likely at least twice your age. You would have spent your wedding night in a room with others watching as your innocence was stolen from you. You would have been put through the complete humiliation of having your sheets checked for blood to make sure you were in fact pure and that your marriage had been consummated. You would have spent every night of your life as a slave to a man that you loathed…a man you hated with every fiber of your being and in the end you would have simply been an empty shell, void of all emotion except for your anger…your rage. It would have been all you had left to let you know you were alive." She sat back surprisingly calm. "No Snow…my son will never be like your father. He is to good…his heart is to pure." She gave a small smirk. "And I raised him better then that."

"Jesus." Emma stated as she looked at Regina realizing that what the woman was saying Snow would have gone through if her father had been alive was exactly what Regina herself had gone through. If her bastard grandfather were in the room right now she would have been tempted to kill him herself.

Robin watched Regina. His heart ached knowing that she was speaking from experience. It was truly ironic that by killing the man who had done this to her she had opened the door for Snow to find her true love. He wanted to pull her into his arms and promise that no one would ever hurt her again. He wanted to take her awful memories away so that she would only be able to remember happy moments.

"I agree, Henry will never be a king. I don't want him to be." Neal spoke up for the first time. "Power changes people. It warps them. I saw it happen with my father. I never want to see Henry become numb to the suffering of others. I want more for him then that."

"I do too." Emma spoke up. "Snow you have taken over this town as if you were queen again, but this world is different from the one you're from. The government does not run the same here. I've never lived under the reign of a king, but I don't want to. I don't want to live in a world where people are not held accountable for the choices they make as leaders."

"Emma, what she's saying about my father…it's not true. She just wants you to feel sorry for her so she gets her way." Snow pleaded.

"No." Robin finally spoke. "I understand that you may not want to see the awful truth about a man that you loved so deeply…but I am not going to sit her and let you call the woman I love a liar. I'm not going to let you render the pain that she went through at the hands of you family insignificant." He took a breath. "It matters, her pain matters. I'm not going to allow anyone to make her feel that she doesn't matter ever again."

Regina squeezed Robin's hand under the table. She couldn't even begin to put into words what it meant to have someone stand up for her.

"It does matter." Charming spoke up for the first time. "We've all been through pain at the hands of each other. It isn't something that we will work through overnight but it is something we have to work through. For Henry's sake." He shook his head. "Regina raised Henry for ten years. In that ten years she loved him and gave him everything he needed." He looked over to Snow. "He still needs his mother. He still loves her and it isn't fair of us to keep him from her, especially when she's trying so hard to be a better person for him."

Snow glared at him. "I can't believe you're taking her side!"

Charming shook his head. "I'm on Henry's side Snow. Right now Regina is the person he needs…it isn't as if we won't ever see him. He will see us all the time, probably daily. Regina would never intentionally harm him. We should allow him to be with her."

Snow crossed her arms and sat back quietly.

"It's the best thing for him right now." Emma said. "He needs stability and reassurance and Regina can give him that. Hell with us he doesn't even have his own room or his own space. You know he will still visit all the time."

"So it's settled." Neal spoke up. "Henry stays with Regina." He looked over at the brunette. "I assume that we can visit?"

Regina looked at the man she'd once been determined to hate. "Of course. I will never attempt to keep Henry from the people he loves again. You have my word on that."

Snow rolled her eyes. "Yes because your word means so much."

Regina paused in her angry retort when she felt Robin's hand on her leg. "I'm glad we were able to work this out." Robin said.

Emma cleared her throat. "While we are here. There was something else I wanted to bring up." she paused when everyone at the table looked at her. "I spoke with everyone on the town council today and the vote was unanimous…We want to reinstate Regina as the mayor of Storybrook."

The entire table gaped at her.

"That's out of the question!" Snow stood in anger.

"It's already decided, even with you and David voting against it Regina is still back in." She looked at the brunette. "That is if you want the position."

Regina stared at Emma as if she'd grown another head.

"The truth is the economy of Storybrook has gone down hill since the curse broke. No one here knows how to manage a town in this world. People are suffering financially and all of them have come to realize just how good they've had it. They want you back."

"I'm not going to let this happen!" Snow said.

"You don't have a choice." Emma told her. "It's been decided if Regina wants the position it's hers." She looked back at Regina who still stared at her completely speechless. "Quite frankly I'm hoping you'll take it because I am so done with people bringing me all their petty complaints. I'm much happier just taking orders." She grinned. "Even if they are from you."

Regina swallowed. "May I take a few days to think about it? I would like to talk it over with my family."

Emma nodded. "Just don't take to long ok? I really can't take it anymore…I find myself missing the days when all I had to worry about was you bitching at me for not having my paperwork finished."

Regina nodded and her and Robin stood up to leave. Emma followed her to the door.

"Hey" The blond said as Regina began to walk out. "Will you tell Henry I would really like to see him tomorrow. I miss him."

Regina nodded and gave Emma a genuine smile. "Yes I will." she paused. "Emma…I" she shook her head. "Thank you."

Emma smiled back "You're welcome."

Robin and Regina turned to walk down the stairs. He put his arm around her and pulled her close. "I told you everything would be ok."

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Please Review!**

**You all are so awesome! I can't thank you enough for all of your encouraging words! I'm so glad everyone is enjoying this story!**


	17. Chapter 17

**You guys asked for more Mulan so here ya go! Obviously there is some family fluff in here too!**

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Mulan wandered through the streets of Storybrook still in wonder of all the strange things that existed in this world. Since they'd arrived she'd felt a bit overwhelmed by all of the different gadgets that she was still struggling to understand.

It was pretty obvious that her life here would be much different then it had been in the Enchanted Forest and maybe that was a good thing.

When she'd first found out Phillip and Aurora wished to come here she'd been somewhat selfishly upset. It wasn't that she was angry with them. She understood that you couldn't help who you love. Phillip and Aurora were each others true loves, the sleeping curse had proved that. It didn't mean that watching them together didn't break Mulan's heart every day she saw them. It was so hard seeing the person you love with someone else. Even though you are happy that they are happy you are also miserable.

It's a complicated emotion.

She'd managed to avoid the two of them for the most part until yesterday when she'd ran into them outside of Granny's. Just when she thinks she's doing ok she sees Aurora and all the feelings came rushing back.

She walked down Main Street looking at all of the buildings that lined the road. Everything was so different here. It would be hard trying to figure out just where she would fit.

In the Enchanted Forest she'd been a warrior…a protector, but here what exactly would she be?

She was glad to finally have a friend who knew all of her secrets. It was such a relief to have someone she didn't feel as if she needed to hide who she was from. For years she'd lived her life in secret always afraid that people would shun her if they knew the truth. The fact that she was attracted to women was looked down on when they'd been back home. Over and over again she'd had her heart broken by people who claimed to be her friends but once they knew would turn their backs on her. It was as if they were afraid that by socializing with her they themselves would become outcasts.

They probably would have she mused, but it would have been nice if just one damn person had stood by her.

Regina did though and that meant more to her then she could put into words. The two of them had barely known each other when Regina figured out she was in love with Aurora, but the woman had been so casual and accepting that Mulan had simply been shocked. It was why she'd admitted it so quickly. She hadn't had time to think of something to say. If anyone had told her a few months ago that the former Evil Queen would become one of her closest confidants Mulan would have laughed in their face, but here she was living with the woman.

She suspected that Robin also knew she was in love with Aurora even though she'd never openly admitted it to him. He was also very different from anyone she'd ever met. She couldn't believe how lucky she was to have these people in her life. Finally she had the support of others. Finally there were people that she could be truly open with. That made her feel so incredibly safe.

She smiled a bit as she rounded the corner but froze when she saw Aurora and Phillip chatting with the man Regina called Charming.

Shit shit shit! She thought to herself. She didn't want to get roped into yet another conversation about baby names and whether or not it would be a boy or a girl. She looked around frantically for a means to escape before she was spotted. She quickly made her way to the building that housed the clock tower. She tried the door and found it to be open.

She hurried into the room hoping she hadn't been spotted. She turned to peer out the window and when she saw the three of them continuing with their conversation she knew she was safe.

She took a breath of relief and turned only to find Belle standing right behind her and nearly jumped three feet into the air.

"Oh my God!" She placed her hand to her heart and laughed. "I wasn't expecting you to be standing there."

Belle smiled a little. "Well I wasn't expecting anyone to come barreling into the library as if they had a rabid dog on their tail so I suppose that makes us even."

Mulan smiled. "Sorry about that, I was just…"

"Trying to avoid someone?" Belle asked with a knowing smirk.

Mulan grinned a bit sheepishly. "Maybe."

Belle looked over her shoulder to peer out the window. "I thought you were friends with Phillip and Aurora." she said as she saw the two outside talking.

"I am." Mulan started. "I just…" She let out a breath. "It's complicated."

Belle nodded accepting her answer. "Well I certainly understand complicated."

Mulan smiled finally looking around the room they were in. "Wow." she smiled. "I see you found your niche."

Belle grinned. "I have…being in the library calms me."

Mulan took in the shelves of books as she began to explore the room. "I learned a lot from you." she turned back to see Belle raise her brow in question. "After I met you I was able to track things much easier. You really helped me out with researching what I was looking for."

Belle smiled feeling very pleased. Mulan had been one of the only people in her life who'd ever treated her as a capable person, not just some princess that couldn't fend for herself. "That's quite the compliment coming from you…I mean you being a famous warrior."

"Well even famous warriors always have something more to learn." Mulan told her.

Belle nodded. "We all do."

Mulan looked up a the other woman. "I'm sorry to hear about Rumple. I know how much you loved him."

Belle nodded sadly. "It was his way of finally making things right. Even though I hate that he did it I understand why he did." She looked down. "I'm actually very proud of him."

Mulan smiled slightly. "You should be. It's a brave thing to give up the one you love."

"You sound as if you speak from experience." Belle said.

"I suppose I do." The other woman answered.

"Who did you give up?" Belle wanted to know.

Mulan shook her head. "It doesn't matter anymore. I will never have the chance to be with them."

Belle studied the other woman for a moment. "Are you hungry?" When Mulan looked at her in question she shrugged. "I'm hungry, how about we go grab something to eat? I could use the distraction."

Mulan smiled. "So could I."

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Robin stood in the doorway watching as Regina rocked his son as she read to him, Roland sat cuddled into her lap as he listened to the rhyming book that was titled The Cat in the Hat.

Henry had gone to bed nearly an hour ago, but Roland was entirely to wired from his day to go to sleep. When Regina decided to redecorate a room she apparently went all out. She'd bought Roland a new bed that sat on a higher platform then normal and actually had a set of stairs for him to walk up to climb into it. She'd also bought a new dresser and the chair she was currently sitting in with his little boy. She'd officially named it her and Roland's cuddle time chair which the young boy had been more then agreeable to.

Roland ate up the time he spent with Regina. Robin had always done his best to give his son everything he needed, but there was something about this woman's touch and he supposed her ability to nurture that the boy couldn't seem to get enough of.

Watching the two of them together made his heart swell with love and long for something he'd never been sure he would have. He wanted this family. He wanted Regina, Henry and Roland all together forever. Being with the three of them like this was his dream come true.

When Marion had died he didn't think he would ever fall in love again. He'd thought that he and Roland would make their own family and just be happy together, and they had been. He hadn't realized how much he'd wanted to find love again until he met Regina and looked into her beautiful eyes. He'd known from the moment they met that there was something about this woman that changed everything.

Now here they were in a different world, living in her home and there was no where else that Robin would rather be.

"Will you read it again?" He heard Roland ask as Regina finished.

Regina smiled down at the little boy who was cuddled against her chest. She brought her hand up to stroke his face. His eyes were beginning to droop. "I will read it again tomorrow." she promised and placed a kiss to his head. "But right now it is time for you to go bed."

"I wanna stay up." He whined.

"If you want to grow up big and strong like your Daddy you have to get your rest." She told him as she lightly stroked his back.

"Will I grow in my sleep?" he asked looking up at her.

"You might…but you only grow a little at a time." She told him,

"So I might be just a little bigger tomorrow?" He asked.

"The only way we will find out is if you go to bed." She smiled at him.

"Ok." He finally agreed. He wrapped his little arms around her neck and Regina closed her eyes relishing the feel of cuddling the little boy. "I love you Regina." He told her placing a kiss to her cheek.

Regina hugged him a little tighter. He was just so sweet. "I love you too." She kissed him on the side of his head.

He pulled back and looked at her. "Do you think maybe we can get some stuff from Cat in the Hat for my room?"

She gave him a bright smile. "I think we most certainly can do that."

She picked him up and carried him to his new bed and tucked him under the covers. Once he was tucked in she stroked his hair and leaned in to place another kiss to his face. "Good night sweetheart."

"Night Regina." He said.

"Do I get a goodnight?" Robin wanted to know as he stepped into the room.

Roland giggled. "Yep." He wrapped his arms around Robin's neck when he bent to kiss him. "I love you Daddy!"

"I love you too buddy." Robin looked down at his son and smiled. He really was the luckiest man on the planet.

He walked from the room to find Regina grinning at him. "What?"

"You are such a great father." She told him as he pulled her close to him.

"Roland makes it easy." He told her.

She laughed. "He certainly does."

She stoked his face and tilted her lips up for a kiss and he obliged her. "I guess I worked you and Henry pretty hard today." she stated.

"Well considering yesterday we spent the whole day painting, then today you had me move the new furniture three times before you were happy I am a little sore." He told her grinning.

She pulled back and took him by the hand leading him into the bedroom. After closing the door she turned to him and brought her hands to the hem of his shirt then pulled it over his head. She then moved her hands to the sweat pants he wore and pulled them over his hips leaving him standing in only his boxers.

"Am I to assume you aren't finished with me yet?" he asked with a grin.

She simply smiled. "Go lay on your stomach on the bed." she told him.

He lifted a brow and walked to the bed as she asked. He grinned when he felt her straddle him then jumped a little when he felt the cold lotion that she squirted onto his back and couldn't help but let out a loud moan when she began to massage him.

"Damn you are good at that." he told her. "Who knew a former queen would give such a great massage?"

She smiled as she worked at the tense muscles in his back and leaned forward to whisper into his ear. "I have many hidden talents." she told him and placed a kiss to his shoulder.

He grinned against the pillow. "And I look forward to finding out about each and every one of them."

"Oh I certainly plan on showing you." she said it seductively as she moved her hands to work at his upper arms. "You've seen nothing yet."

He laughed and moaned at the same time as her very skilled hands kneaded at his muscles. "That sounds promising."

When she'd finished with his back she lifted herself slightly so he could turn over. She once again straddled him and began lightly running her hands along his chest. "You know" she said after a few moments. "It just occurred to me that Mulan hasn't come back yet." Her brow furrowed. "I hope she's ok."

Robin smiled as he brought his hands to her waist. "I'm sure she's fine." He told her.

Regina continued to look worried. "Robin she doesn't know the town well and she's still terrified of all the 'little gadgets' as she calls them…Maybe we should go look for her."

"Regina, Mulan is one of the most skilled and fierce warriors I know." he told her. "I'm sure she can take care of herself."

Regina didn't look convinced, but right in that moment they heard the door downstairs shut.

"See…there she is now. I told you she's fine." He told her as he began to unbutton the pajama top she wore.

"Well can you blame me for being worried about the only friend I've had…well ever?"

"Nope" he told her as he reached the last button. "I love that you worry about the people you love." He admired the strip of flesh the open top showed him "Although I am hoping now that you know she's safe and sound perhaps we can stop talking about Mulan…" he pushed the top from her shoulders "And start focusing on the fact that you are now half dressed and straddling me." He grinned.

She smiled down at him and leaned forward to give him a long kiss. "I supposed that is a good thing to focus on."

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**More fluff, hope you enjoyed!**

**What did you all think about the show? I am so proud of Regina and yet so completely devastated. My poor bby! I hate her being separated from Henry! The fact he doesn't even remember her makes it so much worse! Expect more fluff to come. Anytime something crappy happens to Regina I always end up writing extra fluff to make myself feel better. Ugh and what about Rumple…this really can't be happening. I mean I know they will all find each other again eventually, but the fact that my girl spends at least a year without her little prince…I just…I can't.**

**You all know how much I love hearing from you so please review and come say hi on tumblr. I'm thequeenstolemyheart there too!**


	18. Chapter 18

**More fluffy feels.**

**I will apologize if there are any mistakes. I wrote it a few days ago, but just now proof read. I have a cold and am fighting a fever so I may have missed some stuff but I wanted to get it posted for you all tonight. Thank you for all your kind words! You're the best!**

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Henry awoke to the smell of breakfast cooking. He'd been back at his Mom's for a few days now and he was finally beginning to relax into a routine.

It felt good to be back in the home he'd grown up in and to also have his own room once again. It also felt good to have his Mom back. Things were beginning to feel like they had before he'd found out about the curse. It was good to see her happy.

He knew that her happiness had a lot to do with having Robin in her life now. He was glad the two of them had found each other, but also a little nervous. What if Robin left? His Mom would be left heartbroken and Henry wasn't sure that he could take that. He never wanted to see her sad again.

His nerves had been on edge every since he'd been taken to Neverland. Being in that place and under Pan's spell had brought out a lot feelings he hadn't realized he had. There and under the spell he'd felt abandoned by Emma and Neal. After all they had given him up (although Neal hadn't known about him) but there was still a feeling of abandonment. When his Mom had shown up to break the spell Henry had been reminded that there had always been one constant in his life.

His Mother had never left him. Even when he'd been horrible to her she still wanted him. She'd loved him from the moment he'd been placed in her arms and from that moment she'd never stopped being his Mom.

He supposed that was why he'd had such a bad reaction when he'd come home and Snow had told him he couldn't live with her again. He wanted nothing more then to be with the woman who had always been there. The woman that he knew would never leave him.

When he'd been a child Regina had been his whole world. He'd loved her more then anything in the world and he felt guilty that it had taken him being kidnapped to Neverland for him to see it.

He knew that Emma hadn't really abandoned him as Pan's spell had made him believe. She'd wanted to give him his best chance and she had. He couldn't have asked for a better Mom then the one he had. He would never forget how lucky he was again.

He made his way downstairs expecting to find everyone already awake as he had slept in a bit this morning. He was surprised when he walked into the kitchen to find only his Mom.

"Hey." he said as he walked into the room.

She turned and smiled at him as she finished up the omelet she was making. "Good morning sweetheart. I was just about to come and wake you up."

Henry looked around. "Where is everyone?" He wanted to know.

"They got an early start today." She told him. "They decided to have breakfast at Granny's." she paused "I thought maybe you and I could spend some time together. I was thinking maybe you would like to go out to the stables and work on your riding."

Henry grinned at her. "That sounds great!"

She smiled. "Robin suggested that maybe later this afternoon you may like to go have some archery lessons with him. We thought we could all meet up for lunch."

He smiled. "That sounds really good Mom." He said as she set his plate in front of him. He paused for a moment while he took a bite. "So are you and Robin in love?" he wanted to know.

Regina paused at the unexpected question. "Well, Robin has told me that he loves me."

"Do you love him?" Henry wanted to know.

"I…it's complicated Henry." She told him.

He frowned. "What's complicated about it? You either do or you don't right?"

"Everyone I say those words to I lose…I guess I'm afraid to say them to him. I'm worried if I do he will end up leaving."

"But that's not true. You don't lose everyone you say them too…I mean you say them all the time to me and…" Henry stopped when Regina smiled sadly. "And I left you too." he said feeling very sad all of a sudden.

Regina reached across the table to take his hand. "You're back now and that's all that matters."

Henry looked up at Regina with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry Mom. I love you so much and I promise I will never leave you again."

"Hey" Regina said as she watched a tear fall from his eyes. She stood to walk around the table and pulled Henry out of his seat and into her arms. "I know why you left Henry and it was my fault…not yours."

"I always knew how much you loved me though Mom. I ran away from you even though you had been the best Mom ever and I just can't believe I was so stupid!" He cried against her chest.

"Hey." Regina pulled back from him and held him by the arms. "Don't you ever call yourself stupid again!" She dried the tears from his face. "That's my son you're talking about!" She looked into his eyes. "Henry everything that happened between us was my fault. I wasn't honest with you and I should have been. You mean more to me then anything else in the world and I never want you to feel the way you felt back then. I want you to be able to come to me to talk about anything even if you think it will hurt my feelings. I never want us to keep secrets from each other ok?

Henry smiled a little and nodded. "I love you Mom."

"I love you too baby. I will always love you…no matter what." She stroked his face. "Now no more of this sadness." she told him "I want us to have fun together today."

Henry grinned. "I'm glad I get to spend some time with you."

She leaned in and placed a kiss to his forehead. "Me too."

They once again took their seats at the breakfast table. After a moment of silence Henry spoke again.

"Mom?" He asked.

"Yes?"

"Do you love Robin?" he asked the question again.

Regina sighed and gave her son a smile. "I do."

Henry nodded having already known the answer. "Then you should tell him." He told her. "He probably really wants to hear it."

Regina smiled at her not so little boy who was wise beyond his years. "When did you get to be so smart?"

Henry shrugged and grinned "I guess it was all that stupid homework you forced me to do."

She smiled back at him. "Looks like it paid off!"

"Yeah yeah." He mumbled and took another bite of his omelet.

XXXXXXXX

Henry walked with Robin into a clearing where would be practicing his archery lessons. He watched as the man set up the target. He'd liked Robin from the start but the fact that he now knew his Mother was in love with him made Henry study him a little closer.

He was a good man, Henry could tell that by the way he was with his son and the way he treated his Mom. He'd watched them through lunch and noticed the way he would touch her gently or how he would just sit and watch her with a half smile in his face. If Henry had to guess he would say the man was quite smitten.

"Robin?" Henry asked as the man pulled out his arrows.

"Hmm?" Robin asked preoccupied as he readied the equipment.

"You love my Mom right?" Henry asked.

Robin looked up at the boy to see him studying him. "I do." He answered. "Very much."

Henry nodded. "She said you told her you did."

Robin laid down his equipment and walked over to Henry. "I do love her Henry. I want nothing more then to make her happy."

Henry nodded. "You do." Robin smiled at him and Henry continued. "I've never seen her smile as much as she does with you."

Robin's heart beat a little faster just hearing those words. "I want to make her smile everyday for the rest of her life." He shared with Henry. "Are you ok with me and your Mom being together?" he asked.

"Do you promise that you won't hurt her?" he asked.

Robin nodded. "I promise to do everything in my power to never hurt her and I promise that as long as she wants me in her life I will be there. I will never leave her alone Henry."

Henry smiled. "She definitely wants you in her life." He told him.

"Good." Robin said. "Because that is exactly where I want to be."

XXXXXXXX

Regina walked with Roland hand in hand as they left the store. She'd bought him a Cat in the Hat comforter for his bed and he was happily chatting away about what he would do if the Cat showed up at his house.

"I would tell you and Daddy, Regina." He told her. "Even though he cleans it all up I would still tell you and Daddy the truth."

She smiled down at him. "Good to know."

"Do you think we could watch the movie tonight?" He asked. "Henry said it's pretty good."

"I think that sounds like a great idea." she told him. "You know what else sounds like a great idea?"

He shook his head.

"Ice cream" She smiled down at him and gestured to the little shop along the road. Roland bounced up and down on his heals in excitement.

They walked into the store and Regina held him up so he could see into the bin. When he's settled on Superman and she'd gotten herself a Rocky Road they settled themselves at a table. They both glanced up when Emma walked in.

"Hi Emma!" Roland said happily and waved.

"Well hello Roland." Emma answered walking towards the table. "How are you this afternoon."

"I'm good!" He told her. "Regina and I have been shopping for stuff for my new room and she got me a Cat in the Hat bedspread!" He rambled excitedly and was pleased when Emma made a sound of approval. "Now I'm eating me some Superman ice cream!" He informed her as if the colors on his face weren't evidence of his sweet treat.

"That's the best one!" Emma told him and looked over at Regina. "Good afternoon Mayor Mills." Emma grinned "Or at least I'm hoping you will be Mayor Mills again."

Regina smiled. "I do believe I am going to accept the position." She told her. "I've talked it over with Robin, Henry and Roland here." She gestured to the little boy who grinned proudly that he'd had a say in an adult decision. "They have all informed me that they just want me to be happy."

"Well I don't know how happy being Mayor will make you cause quite frankly it would make me miserable but to each their own." She smiled. "It will be good to have you back."

"Thank you for going to bat for me Emma. I know it wasn't easy standing up to your parents." Regina told her.

Emma winced a bit. "Yeah David's fine, but Mary Margaret is still a little peeved." She sighed. "I think the only thing that would make her happy with me again is for me to give Neal another chance."

Regina studied the woman for a minute. "You want my advice?" When Emma shrugged Regina decided to give it. "Don't let anyone force you into something you aren't ready for. When your heart is ready to love again you will know it."

Emma raised her eyebrow. "Speaking from experience?"

Regina smirked. "Maybe."

"Well good maybe if your getting regular…" She paused in her words looking at Roland. She cleared her throat "Hugs…" she grinned again. "You wont be such a tyrant about paperwork."

"Daddy gives Regina lots of hugs!" Roland threw in.

Emma laughed. "I imagine he does."

Regina grinned. "Hounding you at every opportunity is one of my favorite pass times Emma…that's not likely to change."

Emma sulked and decided to change the subject. "Where's Henry?"

Regina smiled, "He's having an archery lesson with Robin."

The blonde nodded her head. "It's good they're getting along."

"Very good." Regina agreed as Roland stood up after finishing his ice cream and she wiped him down with a baby wipe. "He mentioned today that he would like to spend some time with you next weekend."

Emma's face lit up. "I would love that!" She paused "That is if my boss lets me off work."

Regina smiled. "I think I can manage that."

"Great. I start training Mulan on Monday so I think I see more days off in my future." Emma told her.

"She will be a great addition." Regina told her sincerely.

"I agree." Emma told her before bidding them farewell and going to the counter to order her own ice cream.

When Regina left the shop she had a smile on her face. It seemed she may actually be able to develop some healthy relationships with people and nothing could make her happier.

XXXXXXXX

Robin and Regina worked together cleaning up the kitchen dishes. Both of the boys had gone to bed as had Mulan. They'd allowed the boys to stay up a bit later then normal since it was a Saturday.

"Go sit down and rest your feet." Robin told her after she finished washing the dishes. "I will dry the rest of these."

Regina smiled at him but instead of sitting leaned back against the island as she watched him dry. She loved looking at this man. He was so easy to watch and Regina felt so much pleasure from these moments of normalcy.

"Henry shows a lot of promise in his archery lessons." Robin told her. "He's actually quite good. A few more lessons he might be better then me."

Regina smiled as she watched him continue to dry the dishes. She heard the note of pride in his voice when he talked of his lessons with Henry. She couldn't express how happy it made her that Robin was building a relationship with her son. Every time she looked at him her heart picked up it's pace. Every time he took her into his arms she felt as if she was cherished and loved.

"I love you." she said.

Robin went completely still when he heard the words he'd been longing to hear for so long. He'd understood why she couldn't say them, but it hadn't stopped him from desperately wanting to hear them come from her lips.

He turned to her slowly and saw the soft smile on her face. He couldn't speak. Every thought except how much he loved this woman raced from his mind. "Would you mind saying that again?"

She continued to smile as she stepped towards him. "I love you Robin. Every time I see you my heart jumps in my chest. Every time I hear your voice I get butterflies. When you kiss me I feel like I'm floating and anytime I think of you I can't stop smiling." She brought her hand to his face. "I think it's safe to say that I am head over heals in love with you."

"You love me?" He asked still struggling to believe this was all real. The woman of his dreams had just told him that she loved him.

She smiled and placed her hands on his shoulders. "I do."

Regina felt her heart skip again as the wide smile spread across his face. She didn't know she could make anyone smile like that. "You really love me?"

She laughed. "Yes."

She let out a small yelp when he wrapped his arms around her waist and spun her in a quick circle before covering her mouth with his. He pulled back from her lips not quite ready to put her down. "Will you tell me again?"

She smiled as she looked down into his face and placed another kiss to his lips. "I love you."

"I had no idea how much I wanted to hear those words until you said them." He told her. "I love you so much Regina."

Regina buried her face into his neck. "I know." She told him. "You are everything I've ever dreamed of."

He held her tightly relishing the feel of her in his arms. This was what true love felt like. He was the luckiest man alive. "And you are the woman I will always love Regina, from now until forever."

XXXXXXXX

**Hope you enjoyed the fluff! I'm missing Once so bad and can't believe I have to wait until March to see our couple finally meet! **

**We got some good tweets from Lana and Sean today about Outlaw Queen and I am so excited to see this happen. You know they are going to have chemistry as Lana has chemistry with everyone! So freaking excited. I think the only thing that will help me through the hiatus is that Downton Abbey will be on.**

**Come say hi on tumblr! Love you all and Merry Christmas! Hopefully I get over this cold by then. Blah!**


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N Hello all! I'm so sorry for the long wait. It was a busy two weeks for Christmas and New Years! Speaking of…Happy New Year to all of you! I hope you like this chapter. This one is kind of Robin centric and fleshes out his character and his feelings for Regina a little. **

**Hope you enjoy!**

XXXXXXXX

Robin and Regina walked hand in hand into Granny's after dropping their sons off at school. It had been over a month since Regina had declared her love for Robin and it may possibly have been the most blissful month of his life.

Over the last weeks things seemed to be falling into place and the four of them had settled into a routine. Henry was back in school and they had enrolled Roland in preschool. The boy loved going to class and was very excited to be learning to read. Regina of course had been helping him and the two of them had formed a strong bond with each other. The four year old adored Regina and wanted to spend most of his time with her. Never having the chance to know his mother Roland simply reveled in Regina's mothering nature and she equally enjoyed the time spent with him cuddling up to her for another story.

She and Henry had also become closer in the last month. They spent time with each other at the stables at least twice a week. The twelve year old pretended he was to old for cuddling and enjoying kisses from his mother (especially in public) the boy would often roll his eyes and say something to the effect of "Moooom" in a whiney voice and look around to be sure no one from his school saw, but Robin never failed to notice the upturned corner of his lips when Regina would place a kiss to his forehead or pull him into a hug. Twelve could be a rough age for a boy. On one hand he's still just a kid and wants the things that kids want but on the other he is wanting to be a grown up. There were now crushes to impress and the possibility of other kids teasing him for still being "a baby." Henry told him during an archery lesson not long ago that he wanted to be grown up, but still wanted to play with his action figures sometimes. Robin had laughed and ruffled the boys hair telling him to stay young as long as he could. One day when he was an adult he would miss not being able to just forget everything and play for a bit. He'd laughed again when Henry swore him to secrecy about the fact that he still sometimes liked to play with action figures and made an unbreakable oath to the boy that no one would hear it from him.

Regina went back to the mayor's office and had spent several weeks under tremendous stress because the office was left in such a mess. He'd spent much of those first weeks massaging her tense muscles after a long day at the office. She and Emma had gone back to what was apparently their routine of Regina hounding Emma for paperwork and to get to the town hall meetings on time often time telling her she's irresponsible, to which Emma would very often reply with some form of telling Regina to remove the giant stick from her ass and relax. It was said normally with a grin in a good humored nature and even though Regina rolled her eyes Robin always caught the slight upturn of her lips. Apparently these two actually enjoyed insulting each other. It was a very odd relationship because even though the two of them bickered endlessly they always seemed to have each others backs when needed. It had been in another one of their archery lessons that Henry shared with him that it's because they actually like each other, but neither one wants to admit it.

Mulan had been working at the police station which seemed to please Emma to no end. She was happy to have another deputy and pleased that she now got more time off to spend with Henry. Mulan loved her work at the station. Of all of them that came over from the Enchanted Forest Mulan had been the one who'd had the hardest time adjusting. She hadn't been a fan of all the gadgets in this world and spent her first few weeks afraid of most of them, but after several weeks and several reassurances from Regina and Emma she was finally coming around and actually started to use some of the technology. The look on the woman's face when she used the electric can opener for the first time had been priceless and sent Regina into fits of laughter.

He'd started at the Youth Center and honestly loved his job so far. It had taken a few days to clean everything up since the building hadn't been used for quite a while. After some training with Archie (who volunteered at the center two days a week) He'd begun the slow process of trying to help the children of Storybrook. Many were former lost boys who'd come back from Neverland with the group. The ones that they hadn't yet found homes for were living at the convent. There were also a few others who came in often times it seemed just for something to do. There was a gym inside the facility and Robin was slowly learning the sports of this world. He found that he wasn't very good at basketball which turned out to earn him an endless amount of teasing from the lost boys. He was a bit better at the game of football and he also liked soccer. Henry was insisting that he learn to play baseball as well and the two of them, Neal and Roland were set up to go to the park on Saturday so they could teach him. He learned to go with his strengths when it came to sports at the center and began archery lessons with many of the kids there. The one who showed the most promise was a young girl by the name of Kelsey. She and her younger brother Ethan came to the center almost daily. They were very quiet and mostly remained to themselves. Robin had yet to find a road into getting either of them to open up. The girl had taken to archery as if she were born for it though. He'd tried and failed to start conversations with her during her lessons but he typically only received one word answers.

Belle also volunteered a few times a week. She'd offered her time to come in and help tutor students with reading. She'd been spending much of her time with Mulan. The two of them had forged quite the friendship in the last month. Apparently their mutual heartbreak of losing loved ones had caused the two of them to hit it off. They were even talking of being "roomies" as Belle called it and getting a place together.

Regina also volunteered in her free time and began to tutor many of the children in math. She seemed to enjoy herself when she was there, even when dealing with some of the more smart ass lost boys. There had been a little girl who'd become quite found of her. Young Lexie who was probably around six or so had told Regina that she was the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen. The girl had lost her mother shortly after the curse broke and seemed to be starved to female attention which she received in the form of Regina and Belle and occasionally Emma.

Robin had been surprised at the amount of people willing to give a few hours a week of their time to volunteer. Even Grumpy came in once a week. Many of these kids such as the lost boys had been orphaned long ago and just needed attention and love. Robin had made it his mission in life to find homes for the boys still living at the convent. There were nine total. His heart broke that he couldn't find them all families so he did his best to show each and every one of them attention and that someone cared.

His relationship with Regina had blossomed and it amazed him how quickly she'd become someone he couldn't live without. He loved her with his whole heart and moments like this sitting across from her at Granny's made him so incredibly happy that he could barely contain it. He sat in the booth as she ordered breakfast and couldn't wipe the smile form his face.

"What are you grinning at?" She asked him as Ruby walked into the back to place their orders.

"You." he told her and took her hand across the table. "How is it possible that you get prettier with every day that passes?"

Regina blushed a little and looked down at their joined hands. "Maybe because I'm so happy." she told him.

He grinned and leaned in so he could pull their joined hands to his lips. "Happiness looks good on you." He told her.

She smiled that smile that always made his heart skip a beat. "I love you." She told him, the words now rolling easily off her lips.

"I love you more." He grinned at her. "What are your plans for today?"

Regina rolled her eyes. "I have a budget meeting at ten followed by a meeting with Snow about school funding."

Robin laughed a bit knowing that Regina would rather spend an entire day in budget meetings if it meant avoiding Snow White. "Maybe I could bring you lunch after."

Regina smiled. "That would be wonderful especially since seeing your face always makes my day better. I'm going to need it after an hour of listing to Snow go on about making more bird houses and making sure they have a nice home." She rolled her eyes when he laughed again. "Seriously, the woman has been making bird houses for nearly thirty years now…Storybrook could house all the birds in the United States. She insane!"

"Who's insane?" Ruby wanted to know as she brought the food to their table. She and Regina had come to friendly terms when Ruby announced that she believed the curse had given her a new beginning. Now the two of them talked regularly when Regina came in for her morning coffee.

"Your best friend dear, who else?" Regina answered.

"Snow?" Ruby said. "She's not crazy Regina." She defended her friend.

"No?" Regina raised a brow. "Then perhaps you can explain her obsession with making homes for all the birds in the world."

"Oh…well that." The girl answered. "Ok so yeah when it comes to birds she's bat shit."

"When it comes to birds she's beyond bat shit." Regina murmured under her breath.

Ruby smiled good naturedly "Well it keeps things interesting." She said before walking off to the next table.

"That depends on your definition of interesting." Regina said as Robin once again brought her hand to his lips and laughed.

XXXXXXXX

Robin walked with one of the lost boys…Michael to the supply closet to put away the basketball after they'd just finished their game. The other boys had already left to go back to the convent, but Michael had offered to stay and help clean up as he usually did.

"You really have to get better at this game." The boy told him. "I didn't know it was possible to be as terrible at it as you are."

Robin rolled his eyes and looked at the boy. He was eight years old and had thick dark hair that could use a pair of scissors. His hair covered part of his dark eyes and Robin often wondered how he could see. He'd offered to take the boy for a haircut a week ago but he'd scoffed saying that it was in style. "Give me a break will ya? I just got to this world a month ago."

"So did I." The boy countered.

He had a point there Robin mused. "You lived here before though." He pointed out.

The boy shrugged. "True but I'm only eight. I should not be able to beat you in one on one."

Robin laughed. "Ok so I'm terrible at basketball. I'm better at football." He defended.

The boy laughed. "Just cause your big and muscled and can tackle really well."

Robin raised a brow. "We don't play tackle football." he reminded the boy.

"Well we should…one of the best parts of football is watching people get knocked over."

Robin was still fairly new to all of this, but he had watched some of the game on TV and had to agree, it was one of the best parts. "How are things at the convent?" Robin asked.

The boy shrugged as he straightened a shelf in the supply closet. "Ok, Blue's a slave driver. Isn't she supposed to be the 'good fairy?' If that's really true then how come she's such a bitch?!"

Robin ruffled the boys hair. "She's probably just trying to keep you out of trouble." He defended the woman even though he felt much the same way about her.

"I'm not the one she should be on then…It's the other boys that cause trouble. I mostly keep to myself…or try to." The boy answered him.

Robin looked at the boy. Of all the lost boys he'd come into contact with this one was the one that he'd really connected with. Something about Michael reminded him of himself as a kid. He also knew that Blue was somewhat of a tyrant and where all these kids really needed was someone to show them love she mostly just showed discipline. Astrid was better with the boys and seemed to actually enjoy them, but unfortunately there was only one of her and nine boys to spread it around.

"I'm doing my best to get you out of there Michael…I know you want to find a family." Robin told him.

The boy shrugged as if it didn't matter. "Who needs a family anyway? It's just more adults to hound you."

Robin looked at him for another moment before changing the mood and pulling him into a head lock. "And what you think you have enough adults hounding you?"

The boy laughed despite himself. "Well there's you and you're annoying enough for at least five people. Then your girlfriend's always on my back about math homework and Belle telling me I need to read more."

"You do need to read more…it makes you well rounded, and as for math…well…I'm sure it's used for something." Robin told him.

The boy snorted. "Wait till I tell Regina you said math is pointless."

"I didn't say that!" Robin defended already imagining the look Regina would give him. "I said it's used for stuff."

They both looked up as the door to the gym opened and they saw Belle and Mulan walk in. "Hey." Mulan greeted them. "Is it just you two today?" She asked.

"The other boys just left." Michael told her. "We slaughtered Robin in basketball again."

Mulan grinned as her friend winced. "So it's been the same as every other day?" She laughed. She'd actually taken to the sport and was pleased to find something that she was better at then Robin.

"Can we find something new to talk about besides my complete lack of skill on the basketball court?" He asked.

Belle laughed and looked at Michael. "We were just about to go get some ice cream. We thought we might stop by and see if there were any kids that wanted to come along." She told him.

The boy's eyebrows raised and he bounced on his heels. "I'm always interesting in ice cream!" He told them.

Belle smiled and threw an arm around the boy. "Good, my treat." she looked back at Robin. "Would you like to come along?"

Robin shook his head. "I have some paperwork to finish." He grinned. "You know how the mayor is about paperwork."

Mulan rolled her eyes. "Don't I? I love Regina, but the woman is a stickler for organization."

Robin grinned. "It's just one of the many things I love about her. I can't lie I love seeing her feathers get all ruffled. She's so cute when she's annoyed."

Michael rolled his eyes. "God you guys are gross."

"I couldn't agree more." Mulan sided with the boy despite her happiness that two of her closest friends had found love again. "They're so freaking mushy."

"I think it's sweet." Belle said with her arm still slung around Michael's shoulders.

"Ugh! The boy stated. I'm waiting outside before I hear any more mushy talk." the boy turned and walked to the door. "I'll be by the car!" He told them.

They watched him leave then Belle turned back to the other two. "Regina being a stickler for organization is the reason the town runs so well."

Mulan snorted. "You're not much better then she is. You run the library as if it's some covert military operation instead of a place you go to get books! I'd hate to have late fees with you in charge!"

"There is no reason people can't be responsible and have their books back on time." Belle stated slightly annoyed. "There are other people who would like to read them."

Mulan smirked at her friend. "I bet you always have your paperwork turned in to the Mayor on time…and done in triplicate no doubt."

Belle huffed. "Of course. It's why I'm the only one she doesn't yell at in town council meetings."

Robin and Mulan both winced at the thought of the last town council meeting. Apparently their close relationships with Regina did not make them immune to the wrath of the mayor who ran a very tight ship when it came to the town affairs.

"I will never turn my stuff in late again." He said solemnly.

Belle laughed. "See if you two were more like me you wouldn't have to worry about getting back on the mayor's good side."

Mulan scowled. "It's easy for him!"

"How do you figure?" He wanted to know.

"Because you have the benefit of offering sexual favors to get on her 'good side' again!" Mulan stated.

"Mulan!" Belle chided giving the woman a light smack on the arm.

"Well he does!" she defended. "I on the other hand have to think of creative things like I don't know…cleaning the kitchen or doing laundry."

Robin smirked a little. "Yeah I do get back on her good side fairly quickly."

"See." Mulan motion to Belle.

"Well if you would just do what you're supposed to do in the first place then you would never get on her bad side." Belle crossed her arms in front of her primly.

Robin narrowed his eyes. "Don't you two have someplace to be?" He teased.

Mulan laughed. "We're leaving!" She stated and hooked arms with Belle. "Your face is annoying me anyway."

"The feelings mutual!" He shouted back at her.

He walked back to his office chuckling as he sat at his desk and began going through the stack of paperwork that he was determined to have finished before the next meeting. He called and left a message for Regina that he would be home a little late so he could get a head start in getting it all done.

Just when he was about to call it quits and head home to his family the phone rang.

"Hello this is Robin." He answered.

"Robin, it's Emma." The sheriff answered him.

"Hey Emma, What's up?" He leaned back in his chair.

"You know Kelsey and Ethan?" She asked. "They come to the center pretty often don't they?"

"Yeah he answered. I give Kelsey archery lessons." He answered.

"Well there was a domestic disturbance call from their house earlier. Their mother was hurt really badly." Emma told him. "We arrested the father for assault, but the kids saw everything. We thought it may help out to have a familiar face. Archie has tried talking with them, but they aren't saying much to him. The girl asked for you."

Robin sat up and nodded. "Where are you?" He asked.

"We're at the hospital." Emma told him. "They don't want to leave their Mom."

"Ok. I'm on my way." He told her.

He stood and grabbed his cell phone on the way out so he could call Regina on the way to let her know he wouldn't be home for dinner. It all made since now. They way the kids moved around as if they were ghosts, never saying anything and just trying to stay out of the way. Robin had suspected there were major issues at home, but without either of them confirming it there had been nothing he could do but relay his concerns to Archie and Emma. These kids certainly weren't living their happy ending…it would seem they were living a nightmare.

XXXXXXXX

Robin sat in the hospital waiting room with Ethan and Kelsey. Neither of the children had said much, but both seemed to be comforted by his presence. He'd been there for nearly an hour. Emma had tied taking statements from them, but neither were willing to tell her what had taken place. She was now with their mother attempting to talk with her about the incident and trying to talk her into filing charges and leaving the man who'd done this to her.

"You know…" Robin started hoping to get the children to open up some. "I was telling Regina how great you are in your archery lessons Kelsey just the other day. It won't be long before you could hit a moving target I think."

The girl looked up at him with haunted eyes. "Maybe if I get good enough I can protect my family." she stated. This was possibly the most the girl had ever said to him at one time.

"Hey." Robin laid a hand on her shoulder. "That isn't your job Kelsey."

"No." the girl agreed. "It should be his." She was a good observer and she'd watched many of the fathers in town with their children. She wasn't blind. She knew that not every man abused their wives the way her father did.

"You're right." Robin answered. "It should be."

The girl took a deep breath. "You girlfriend…Regina…she's the one who set the curse that brought us all here."

Robin looked the girl square in the eye. "She did yes."

The girl looked down at her feet before looking back up again. "Do you think she could cast another one?" She asked.

Robin raised his brow. That was a question he hadn't been expecting. "Why would you want her to do that?"

The girl looked down again. "Because before the curse was broken it was just us and my mom…we were happy. It wasn't until after it broke that my father came back." She looked back up at him with pleading eyes. "She wouldn't have to cast it on everyone…just us. She could make my father forget who he is and make us forget, then we could go back to being happy again."

Robin's heart broke for the girl. He wished he could do that for her. "I don't think she can Kelsey. Casting the curse comes with a price. I don't think magic is the answer."

"You have to do something!" The girl continued to plead. "He's not going to stop until she's dead!"

"Kelsey…" Robin sighed. "I can promise that I will talk with the sheriff…see if there is some kind of solution that we can all come up with. We will do our very best to make sure that you are all safe."

The girl shook her head. "She won't leave him." She stated. "She'd too afraid."

Robin shook his head and laid his hand on the girl's shoulder. "For tonight your father is in jail…for tonight your mom is safe. We will figure out tomorrow when it gets here, but know that tonight, your mom is safe."

"You have to help convince her to get away from him!" The girl pleaded. "You have to help us."

Robin only wished he could promise that everything would be ok, but much like his own mother he feared that convincing this woman to leave would be nearly impossible.

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He was dead tired when he walked through the door of the mansion. He stayed late at the hospital brainstorming with Emma. Emma had spent much of her time trying to convince Jean Douglas to leave her asshole husband. The woman had refused saying that she had no place to go. Emma and Robin may have come up with a solution to that problem and planned to talk to the woman in the morning.

Belle had volunteered to take the kids home with her for the evening. She was still living at Rumple's place and had plenty of room for them. Robin had gone to Jean's hospital room to inform her that her kids would be safe and well taken care of. He hadn't been prepared for what he would see. The woman was bruised and swollen. Taking in the sight of her had caused Robin's blood to boil. He would like nothing more then to march over to that jail and give the man someone his own size to pick on…someone who could fight back.

He climbed up the stairs slowly his body feeling absolutely ready to fall into bed. He figured that he would be asleep before his head even hit the pillow. He stopped at Henry's room and peered in to check on the boy before moving on to Roland's. After making sure that both of the boy's were sleeping he moved to the bedroom he shared with Regina.

He walked in to find her laying on her back with a book laying on her stomach. She was wearing her reading glasses and sleeping peacefully.

He smiled a little. She'd tried to wait up for him.

He took his time and studied her for a moment. He loved to watch her sleep. She was so absolutely beautiful. He could stay just like this and look at her for hours.

In the back of his mind through this evening he hadn't been able to stop his mind from drifting to what she'd went through as wife of the king. They'd had a few conversations about it over the last month and while Regina said the king never abused her physically…leaving marks and such, she had suffered through other types of abuse. Sexual, emotional…and she'd always had the paralyzing fear that if she tried to leave him he would kill her.

After removing his pants and shirt Robin, just sat on the bed and looked at her. He cherished this woman more then words can say and he couldn't stand the thought of someone hurting her. For the life of him he couldn't understand the way these men who viewed women as property minds worked.

Regina was her own person. She was funny and vibrant, she had a hot temper especially when it came to those she loved. She was serious and intense, but also fun and sweet. She was nurturing and kind, but could get mad as a hornet.

Robin wouldn't have it any other way. It was the combination of everything that she was that he loved about her. He wouldn't change one thing about this woman. Why would a man want a robot who did everything he said without question? This right here. This woman was what made life interesting. She made life worth living.

He slipped into bed beside her and gently took the book from her hands and laid it on the table. She stirred when he removed her glasses from her face gave him a lazy smile when her eyes fluttered open.

"I tired to wait up for you." she smiled at him.

"It's late…he leaned in and kissed her gently. You didn't have to wait up." He leaned on his elbow as he traced his finger down her face. "I know you had a long day."

She rolled over and cuddled into his chest. "I wanted to see you." She told him.

Every bone in his body screamed that he would protect this woman from anything that tried to harm her. He wondered again how a man could hurt someone they claimed to love the way Jean Douglas's husband had hurt her tonight.

His mind wandered again to the suffering Regina had gone through when she was Queen.

"I would have saved you." He told her quietly.

Regina furrowed her brow and pulled back from him a bit. "What?" She asked.

"If you'd come to me in the tavern that night…I would have taken you away from there. I would have taken you to a different world where no one would have found us. I would have protected you with everything I had in me…with my life. I would have done everything in my power to make sure that man would never hurt you again." he told her.

She looked at him for a moment not sure what had brought all this on. "And you likely would have been executed for your trouble." She told him. "The king would have found us Robin and he would have killed us."

Robin placed a kiss to her forehead. "I still would have tried. I would have done anything to keep you safe."

"Robin what happened tonight?" Regina asked him.

Robin shook his head. "It's a long story and it's late." he kissed her head again then her cheek. "I'll tell you about it in the morning…Get some sleep. I love you."

She leaned up and placed a kiss to his cheek. "I love you too."

He pulled her against his chest and wrapped his arm around her holding on tightly. He may not have been able to protect her then, but he would now. He would never allow anyone to cause her harm again.

XXXXXXXX

**Hope you enjoyed! I have already started on the next chapter so it shouldn't be long till the next update! You know reviews keep me motivated so please tell me what you think!**

**Thank you all again for reading and come on over and see me on tumblr if you'd like to chat! I'm thequeenstolemyheart!**


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